HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
DR. P. F. Woo:-Mr. Chairman, it is very considerate of the government to let Members know in advance, long before the actual construction of the City Hall, that its management and administration are to be in the hands of the Urban Council. We have just had the opportunity of viewing the sketch plans now placed in this Council, and while we are all impressed by the magnificence of the project, I think it is rather unfortunate that these plans have all been approved long ago by government, and Members of this Council have not been given the opportunity of offering criticisms or suggestions. This large building comprises of Theatre, Concert Hall, Museum, Art Gallery, Library and other amenities. Administration and management of the City Hall are therefore no easy matter and require very careful study and planning beforehand. We have been told that legislation will be introduced to this effect, and we must hope that wide power will be given to us to facilitate the functioning of the City Hall. At the planning stage, it is essential that a Policy Select Committee should be formed, and as time goes on, the work may have to be divided among Sub-committees, each of which will have to be responsible for the management of one or two sections.
With these few remarks, I fully support Mr. Sales' motion.
MR. BERNACCHI :-I feel almost tempted to bite the bait of Mr. Watson and enlarge upon the constitutional ideals of the Reform Club but I will resist the temptation. I think undoubtedly the need to form a policy select committee at this stage is obvious and I have only one or two observations to make to what has already been said. In the first place I find myself very much in agreement with what Dr. Woo has just been saying, that it is quite essential for this Council to be given adequate powers to carry out the functions allocated to us. I say quite frankly that I consider that we have been hamstrung in our administration of the Car Park and I do hope that a wider discretion would be given to us in relation to the City Hall and Civic Centre.
As regards the public library, I would take this opportunity of saying that a number of books were given to the Reform Club some years ago in trust to hold them until there was a City Hall and public library so that I will be glad—or I should say the Reform Club will be glad to turn these books over to the relevant library committee of this council when it is formed.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
The need for expert advice is obvious. We have the glorious opportunity of starting from scratch in the matter of the design and layout of the museum and the art gallery, both of which are the subject matter of very diverse views in many respects. I recall that one of the best museums that I have ever seen is quite a small one in the city of Livingston in Northern Rhodesia. This is a new museum and it has been laid out in an exceptionally able manner. I wonder if perhaps we can obtain any information from Rhodesia in respect to that particular museum.
As regards the rest I think that most if not all of the civic centre should be open in the evenings. The majority of the population of Hong Kong work long hours and it will be next to useless to them if the centre is only open during working hours. Indeed it would be much better to open late in the morning or even only in the afternoon and then to remain open until quite late at night. This, however, is only a passing observation because quite obviously the whole policy is a tremendous undertaking and must only be presented to us as a complete picture by the Policy Select Committee which Mr. Sales proposes. We have great pleasure in supporting his motion.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-I think it was about a year and a half ago that I asked a question in Council whether or not Government had decided to allocate part or all of the management of the City Hall to this Council. I received the reply that Government was thinking about it.
Then again two months ago I repeated my question and I asked whether Government was still thinking about it. At the November meeting Government gave a reply that it had decided that Council should manage the City Hall.
The point I would like to make in passing, Mr. Chairman, is that I think there has been much unnecessary delay in the starting, the construction, of this City Hall. It had been hoped that the previous Governor, Sir Alexander Grantham, would have been able to lay the foundation stone when he was here. Then again the suggestion was made by Mr. Watson that the Duke of Edinburgh should be invited to lay the foundation stone when he arrives in Hong Kong next March. From the published report of the Duke's programme, it appears that this suggestion has been ruled out.
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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
DR. P. F. Woo:-Mr. Chairman, it is very considerate of the government to let Members know in advance, long before the actual construction of the City Hall, that its management and administration are to be in the hands of the Urban Council. We have just had the opportunity of viewing the sketch plans now placed in this Council, and while we are all impressed by the magnificence of the project, I think it is rather unfortunate that these plans have all been approved long ago by government, and Members of this Council have not been given the opportunity of offering criticisms or suggestions. This large building comprises of Theatre, Concert Hall, Museum, Art Gallery, Library and other amenities. Administration and management of the City Hall are therefore no easy matter and require very careful study and planning beforehand. We have been told that legislation will be introduced to this effect, and we must hope that wide power will be given to us to facilitate the functioning of the City Hall. At the planning stage, it is essential that a Policy Select Committee should be formed, and as time goes on, the work may have to be divided among Sub-committees, each of which will have to be responsible for the management of one or two sections.
With these few remarks, I fully support Mr. Sales' motion.
MR. BERNACCHI :-I feel almost tempted to bite the bait of Mr. Watson and enlarge upon the constitutional ideals of the Reform Club but I will resist the temptation. I think undoubtedly the need to form a policy select committee at this stage is obvious and I have only one or two observations to make to what has already been said. In the first place I find myself very much in agreement with what Dr. Woo has just been saying, that it is quite essential for this Council to be given adequate powers to carry out the functions allocated to us. I say quite frankly that I consider that we have been hamstrung in our administration of the Car Park and I do hope that a wider discretion would be given to us in relation to the City Hall and Civic Centre.
As regards the public library, I would take this opportunity of saying that a number of books were given to the Reform Club some years ago in trust to hold them until there was a City Hall and public library so that I will be glad-or I should say the Reform Club will be glad to turn these books over to the relevant library committee of this council when it is formed.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
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The need for expert advice is obvious. We have the glorious opportunity of starting from scratch in the matter of the design and layout of the museum and the art gallery, both of which are the subject matter of very diverse views in many respects. I recall that one of the best museums that I have ever seen is quite a small one in the city of Livingston in Northern Rhodesia. This is a new museum and it has been laid out in an exceptionally able I wonder if perhaps we can obtain any information from Rhodesia in respect to that particular museum.
manner.
As regards the rest I think that most if not all of the civic centre should be open in the evenings. The majority of the population of Hong Kong work long hours and it will be next to useless to them if the centre is only open during working hours. Indeed it would be much better to open late in the morning or even only in the afternoon and then to remain open until quite late at night. This, however, is only a passing observation because quite obviously the whole policy is a tremendous undertaking and must only be presented to us as a complete picture by the Policy Select Committee which Mr. Sales proposes. We have great pleasure in supporting his motion.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-I think it was about a year and a half ago that I asked a question in Council whether or not Government had decided to allocate part or all of the management of the City Hall to this Council. I received the reply that Government was thinking about it.
Then again two months ago I repeated my question and 1 asked whether Government was still thinking about it. At the November meeting Government gave a reply that it had decided that Council should manage the City Hall.
The point I would like to make in passing, Mr. Chairman, is that I think there has been much unnecessary delay in the starting, the construction, of this City Hall. It had been hoped that the previous Governor, Sir Alexander Grantham, would have been able to lay the foundation stone when he was here. Then again the suggestion was made by Mr. Watson that the Duke of Edinburgh should be invited to lay the foundation stone when he arrives in Hong Kong next March. From the published report of the Duke's programme, it appears that this suggestion has been ruled out.
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