Sessional_Paper_1930 — Page 51

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Reservation by Hon. Mr. J. P. Braga and Mr. M. K. Lo.

1. We regret the necessity for this reservation but we are unable to sign the Report without it on account of its recommendations relating to Caroline Hill as contained in paragraph 11 (a) and paragraph 12 of that Report, with which we are in disagreement.

2. We do not agree to the sale of the Caroline Hill area, at present and for some time past allocated and extensively used as a playing field, as "a means of financing the more expeditious completion" by the Government of the scheme for reclaiming and laying out Aberdeen Inlet for recreation grounds.

3. Our reasons for disagreement are as follows:

(a) The carving out of Caroline Hill, for building purposes would spoil the amenities of the Sookunpoo Valley now almost exclusively devoted to the purpose of playing fields. the benefits of which are enjoyed by men of the Services as well as by civilians of all nationalities. The conspicuously successful Grand Tattoo, held for a period of three consecutive days in October 1928, when thousands of residents of, and visitors to, the Colony, enjoyed a magnificent spectacle staged in an ideal and unique setting sufficiently demonstrates the value of Sookunpoo Valley being retained and maintained for its present purposes without the incumbrance of buildings for residential purposes, for which more suitable sites might be found elsewhere on the Island, and preferably, at Kowloon.

(b) The value and the cost of the land should not, in our opinion, constitute a deciding factor in the consideration of the question as to whether or not it should be retained as a recreation ground. Indeed, if that were a decisive factor in such a question, it would be difficult to justify the retention of playing fields occupying immensely more valuable areas within the City limits, e.g. the Hong Kong Cricket Club ground, which, we understand, is worth about five and a half million dollars. The same might be said of the extensive area within King's Park at Kowloon which, for its entire acreage, has a value far in excess of that which may be assessed for Caroline Hill. And yet the permanent reservation of King's Park for playing fields and as an open area-a very wise measure indeed— has been secured by legislation.

(c) The recommendation that Caroline Hill should be sacrificed in favour of the Aberdeen Valley scheme on the ground that the latter provides nine times. the area which the former does is, to our mind, unsound, because of the vital question of accessibility. The distance of Aberdeen Valley and its difficulty of access, in point of time and expense, as compared with Caro- line Hill which thousands can reach from their offices, and the Naval men from the ships in the harbour and the soldiers from their barracks and their social headquarters within city limits by easy methods of mass trans- portation, such as the existing tram and bus services, militates against whatever other advantages that may reasonably be claimed for the Aberdeen Inlet Scheme. To the majority of frequenters of Sookunpoo Valley for purposes of sport the cost of a journey to and from Aberdeen (which is a real consideration because of the smallness of their wages) would be prohibitive, not to speak of the time lost in a winter evening when darkness sets in at a much earlier hour of the day. The popularity of Aberdeen Valley for the purposes of sport remains to be proved: the usefulness of Sookunpoo for the like purpose is established, and its attrac- tions can never be lost because no other large-sized flat land is any longer available on the Island and so favourably situated as Caroline Hill for purposes of sport.

(d) The very terms of our reference demand of us that we should "review the provision at present existing for playing fields in Hong Kong and on the Mainland' we therefore regard it as our duty to consider the adequacy or otherwise of playing fields in the city. This, of course, is an entirely non-racial question: but the fact that a rapidly growing number of Chin- ese, who constitute such a large proportion of the population of Hong