Sessional_Paper_1930 — Page 49

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fined ourselves to the recommendation of suitable areas for reservation, leaving matters of detailed allocation to the permanent Recreation Grounds Committee, which might allot the new grounds to such clubs as would be willing to develop them and put them in order for play, as we realize that Government is not likely to be able to provide funds to lay out and turf the whole of these grounds for a very long time.

38. With regard to tenure however it has been strongly urged upon us that the system of annual allocation renders the tenure of the areas so insecure that Clubs are naturally disinclined to incur large expenditure on improvements. The development of the new areas suggested in this report should reduce the necessity for restricting the rights of a club to a very short tenure and we consider that it would be in the interests of the recreation facilities of the Colony that Clubs should be granted sufficiently long tenure to make it worth their while to develop their grounds and put permanent buildings upon them, such questions of length of tenure etc., to be settled in each case on the advice of the permanent Recreation Grounds Committee. At the same time we consider that parts of the new areas should be preserved as public playgrounds unallocated to any particular interests and free to all to come and play on.

39. We consider that generally speaking the allotment of all public playing fields and such open spaces as it might be desirable to use for games and such Crown Land as might be temporarily made available for games should be in the discretion of the Re- creation Grounds Committee, subject to the approval of Government, and that it would be much in the interest of all concerned if the annual meeting of this Committee for the purpose of making allotments could take place in March rather than later in the year.

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40. We have only one other recommendation to add on this subject and that is that the permanent Recreation Grounds Committee should give due consideration to the claims of Vernacular Schools for allotments on applications by such schools through the Director of Education.

Provision of Public Tennis Courts.

41. It has been represented to us that there is a numerous class of persons in the Colony, composed of various races, who, having little time or means of obtaining other out-door exercise are anxious to play lawn tennis and yet are prevented by one reason or another from joining tennis clubs, that such people would gladly avail themselves of any public facilities for the game that might be provided, and that the cost of making, supervising, and maintaining a few 'hard' tennis courts would be a very small item of Government special and recurrent expenditure, while it would benefit a large number of people. It has been suggested to us that a beginning might be made with three such courts on the south end of area P. at King's Park, which is at present allotted but un- used except as a public football ground. and with another three courts on some of the ground recommended for use as playing fields in the neighbourhood of Prince Edward Road. A memorandum on this subject by Mr. E. Cock forms appendix VIII to this report.

42. We recommend that Government should endeavour to give effect to this pro- posal and establish public 'hard' tennis courts on these lines. It is suggested that the courts might be looked after hy that branch of the Public Works Department which at present looks after the public bathing beaches and that the open tennis season should coincide with the closed season for bathing.

Games Organisation and 'Playgrounds Association'.

43. It has been represented to us that certain small open spaces both in Hong Kong and on the Mainland might be used with great benefit to the localities in which they are situated if they were devoted to organised games like volleyball and basketball. We understand that for 16 years a small plot of ground at the Chinese Y.M.C.A. in Bridges Street has been so used for organized games under Y.M.C.A. supervision to the great advantage of over 1,000 boys from 10 to 15 schools in the neighbourhood at a comparatively small cost, and that other small schools have followed suit on small plots