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# HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
## Urban Amenities
Undoubtedly, much progress has been made in converting vacant lots into playgrounds for children or sitting-out areas for adults. Still, there are many such lots on both sides of the harbour which lend themselves to quick and inexpensive development. May I urge you to carry out a survey of the possibilities, if you have not already done so?
There are two aspects of the Council's work in this connexion which would become more effective by following a clear and well-defined policy. First, in the densely-populated urban districts where very little land remains for such development, we would do well to enclose every possible vacant lot and reserve it, however small, for public use either with benches for adults or with playground equipment for children. Second, as new areas are opened or existing urban ones extended, this Council ought to stake its claim for parks and playgrounds in some equitable ratio to the land that will be made available and in keeping with the density of population that is contemplated by the Public Works Department.
There is, moreover, the need to put the proper emphasis on the policy which Council will follow. I believe we ought to be guided by the welfare of the masses, first and foremost, in the creation of recreational facilities and the spending of public money. For it is true to say that, in Hong Kong, whoever has the means has no lack of recreational facilities.
## City Hall
When I proposed the immediate constitution of the City Hall Policy Select Committee in December 1958, I suggested that, in defining our policy and in organizing the City Hall administration, we should strive to reflect the wishes of the many public organizations which serve Hong Kong so well. For, unless the City Hall is organized to meet public requirements, it will be no more than an expensive monument. Happily, every effort is being made to give the community all that may be reasonably expected of such a place. Of course, we cannot expect to satisfy all claims nor can we ever hope to please everybody. But we who are a group with many and wide associations are doing our utmost to strike a balance so that the more articulate and the more influential champions do not succeed in making their favourite sections all that they want them to be at the expense of the others or at the sacrifice of other claims. Indeed, there is always the danger of a lopsided development taking place.
For this very reason, as you will recall, the members of the Select Committee have rightly called halt, and asked for a thorough review of plans before carrying on. We have dug our heels in, so to speak, and we shall continue in that position until that Select Committee's members are entirely satisfied that no section will be sacrificed in the interest of any other section.
# HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
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## Kowloon
Mr. Chairman, I am not at all surprised that so little attention has been paid to Kowloon today. In effect, as the only appointed member for Kowloon, so to speak, in anticipation of the ward system suggested by our good friend Mr. Wilfred WONG, it has devolved upon me to speak on the subject of Kowloon and in this connexion I note with great satisfaction the deference paid by my fellow member Mr. MARDEN when he visited our city.
In Kowloon we are all ears waiting for Government to announce its plans for all the lands that have become available in the urban areas in consequence of the levelling of hills and the opening of new areas by the building of roads as well as by virtue of the reclaiming of even more land from the sea. We can well understand the need for care and caution in town-planning; yet it can hardly be claimed that not enough time has elapsed for demand to crystallize. Kowloon has waited nearly 30 years for a new central post office. How long more must the people, the factories and the business houses bide their time before all the Government departments directly serving the public can provide the same facilities on both sides of the harbour? The absence of such services must necessarily be a handicap to the full development of Kowloon as a business and industrial city in the same way as Kowloon has grown so rapidly as a tourist and shopping centre.
Mr. CHEONG-LEEN has threatened this Council that there shall be no more taxation without representation. That cry, Mr. Chairman, can well be raised in Kowloon.
## The Council's Work
In my maiden speech in this Council in 1957 I professed the belief that deeds, not words should be the rule of conduct here. In effect, membership of this Council entails much hard work and many long meetings. Though, because of a progressive re-organization, we meet less often than before, yet it is estimated that in the year ended 31st March there were no less than 201 meetings of the Council and its Committees as well as of the Hong Kong Housing Authority. In addition, without counting the 4,125 files sent to Delegated Members and the despatch-boxes which can be said to be constantly in circulation, over 1,600 papers, notices, minutes, etc. were issued. Without reading and studying them, we would certainly be less well-informed than we are and doubtless less capable of attending conscientiously to the many matters which come within the scope and purview of this Council. Besides, be he appointed or elected, each and every Councillor must evidently do some field work, if he is to make a contribution to the progress of the Council as a whole.
All this is in sum a part of the price that must be paid to make Hong Kong an even better place for all to live in.
## The Council's Procedures
I think that it is part and parcel of the work of the Select Committees to examine the procedures in which Government departments are involved as a result of their policy decisions. Paying close and independent attention to the work that has to
Page 28 of 118
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Page 28 of 118
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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Urban Amenities: Undoubtedly, much progress has been made in converting vacant lots into playgrounds for children or sitting-out areas for adults. Still, there are many such lots on both sides of the harbour which lend themselves to quick and inexpensive development. May I urge you to carry out a survey of the possibilities, if you have not already done so?
There are two aspects of the Council's work in this connexion which would become more effective by following a clear and well- defined policy. First, in the densely-populated urban districts where very little land remains for such development, we would do well to enclose every possible vacant lot and reserve it, however small, for public use either with benches for adults or with playground equipment for children. Second, as new areas are opened or existing urban ones extended, this Council ought to stake its claim for parks and play- grounds in some equitable ratio to the land that will be made available and in keeping with the density of population that is contemplated by the Public Works Department.
There is, moreover, the need to put the proper emphasis on the policy which Council will follow. I believe we ought to be guided by the welfare of the masses, first and foremost, in the creation of recrea- tional facilities and the spending of public money. For it is true to say that, in Hong Kong, whoever has the means has no lack of recreational facilities.
City Hall: When I proposed the immediate constitution of the City Hall Policy Select Committee in December 1958, I suggested that, in defining our policy and in organizing the City Hall administration, we should strive to reflect the wishes of the many public organizations which serve Hong Kong so well. For, unless the City Hall is organized to meet public requirements, it will be no more than an expensive monument. Happily, every effort is being made to give the community all that may be reasonably expected of such a place. Of course, we cannot expect to satisfy all claims nor can we ever hope to please everybody. But we who are a group with many and wide associations are doing our utmost to strike a balance so that the more articulate and the more influential champions do not succeed in making their favourite sections all that they want them to be at the expense of the others or at the sacrifice of other claims. Indeed, there is always the danger of a lopsided development taking place.
For this very reason, as you will recall, the members of the Select Committee have rightly called halt, and asked for a thorough review of plans before carrying on. We have dug our heels in, so to speak, and we shall continue in that position until that Select Committee's members are entirely satisfied that no section will be sacrificed in the interest of any other section.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
41
Kowloon: Mr. Chairman, I am not at all surprised that so little attention has been paid to Kowloon today. In effect, as the only appointed member for Kowloon, so to speak, in anticipation of the ward system suggested by our good friend Mr. Wilfred WONG, it has devolved upon me to speak on the subject of Kowloon and in this connexion I note with great satisfaction the deference paid by my fellow member of Mr. MARDEN when he visited our city.
In Kowloon we are all ears waiting for Government to announce its plans for all the lands that have become available in the urban areas in consequence of the levelling of hills and the opening of new areas by the building of roads as well as by virtue of the reclaiming of even more land from the sea. We can well understand the need for care and caution in town-planning; yet it can hardly be claimed that not enough time has elapsed for demand to crystallize. Kowloon has waited nearly 30 years for a new central post office. How long more must the people, the factories and the business houses bide their time before all the Government departments directly serving the public can provide the same facilities on both sides of the harbour? The absence of such services must necessarily be a handicap to the full development of Kowloon as a business and industrial city in the same way as Kowloon has grown so rapidly as a tourist and shopping centre.
Mr. CHEONG-LEEN has threatened this Council that there shall be no more taxation without representation. That cry, Mr. Chairman, can well be raised in Kowloon.
The Council's Work: In my maiden speech in this Council in 1957 I professed the belief that deeds, not words should be the rule of conduct here. In effect, membership of this Council entails much hard work and many long meetings. Though, because of a progressive re-organization, we meet less often than before, yet it is estimated that in the year ended 31st March there were no less than 201 meetings of the Council and its Committees as well as of the Hong Kong Housing Authority. In addition, without counting the 4,125 files sent to Delegated Members and the despatch-boxes which can be said to be constantly in circula- tion, over 1,600 papers, notices, minutes, etc. were issued. Without reading and studying them, we would certainly be less well-informed than we are and doubtless less capable of attending conscientiously to the many matters which come within the scope and purview of this Council. Besides, be he appointed or elected, each and every Councillor must evidently do some field work, if he is to make a contribution to the progress of the Council as a whole.
All this is in sum a part of the price that must be paid to make Hong Kong an even better place for all to live in.
The Council's Procedures: I think that it is part and parcel of the work of the Select Committees to examine the procedures in which Government departments are involved as a result of their policy deci- sions. Paying close and independent attention to the work that has to
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