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I feel that the motion that he has moved is a worthy one, because in the Western District there are 400,000 people living mostly in grossly congested tenements—I am referring to the area between the Central area and the Pok Fu Lam district. Of these 400,000 people living in the Western District, there are approximately 100-105,000 children of school age and, as Mr. SALES mentioned in moving the motion, up to June this year there were 70,000 children going to school. This will mean, Mr. Chairman, that in the Western District alone there are 35,000 children and youths who, because they do not have any school to go to, are highly susceptible to roaming the streets and mixing in bad company or being lured into triad activities or into dope peddling or dope addiction.
Even for the 70,000 children who are going to school, the recreational facilities after class is over are incredibly poor. In June 1961, there were 208 schools in the Western District and of this number, only 23 had playgrounds, 14 of which belong to Government-run and Government-aided schools. Now, this means that 185 private schools had no playground facilities whatsoever. So the great majority of the children who are studying in these 185 private schools have been unable to avail themselves of any public recreational facilities because of the paucity of playgrounds in the Western District.
In the entire Central and Western Districts, Mr. Chairman, from the sea-level right up to the mid-level we have only (please correct me if I am wrong) five public playgrounds, the total area of which is approximately twice the size of the Cricket Club ground. How can this very limited playground space cater to the needs of hundreds of thousands of children who live in the frightfully congested Central and Western Districts? It beggars the imagination—and I assume that Members of this Council are persons of imagination, vision and sympathy.
I have read through the Central Area Redevelopment Report and, in passing, I would like to congratulate the Director of Public Works on this Report. I find it highly informative and a very well-prepared Report. I am only sorry that, where the plan shows a car park at the western end of the reclamation, there is no mention of the roof of the car park being used as a sitting-out area or playground. I am also sorry that the Town Planning Board summarily dismisses the claim of residents living in the Sai Ying Pun area for more playgrounds and sitting-out areas by stating that "reclamation lands are hardly suitable for this purpose and are in any case too valuable commercially to be so set aside." However, the appalling lack of playgrounds and sitting-out areas in both Central and Western Districts has spurred the Town Planning Board to recommend that the problem should be examined by Government as a separate issue.
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Recently, I suggested that the Public Works Department should supply this Council with a list of all the sites which might be available for recreational development by Council within the next 5 years. If and when this list is furnished, I hope that it will contain sufficient sitting-out areas in the Western District. I expect too that the provision of such sites should be clearly indicated in any future plan which the Town Planning Board will prepare for the Western District.
Mr. Chairman, I have much pleasure in supporting the motion.
MR. LI YIU-BOR:--Mr. Chairman, I rise to support the motion put forward by Mr. SALES this afternoon.
I did not particularly want to speak this afternoon, but at the same time I do not want Mr. SALES to think that his excellent motion is not supported by a fellow member of the Kowloon Residents' Association. (Laughter). Anyone who takes a leisurely walk from the Central District to Kennedy Town will not fail to notice that playgrounds and sitting-out areas are sadly conspicuous by their absence, and therefore Mr. SALES' motion to urge Government to provide such facilities in the Western District will, I have no doubt, be supported by Members of this Council.
I may be wrong, but the scarcity, and consequently the high cost, of land in Hong Kong very often adversely affect the decision of those responsible for town planning to provide suitable facilities for the benefit of the general public, but it should be remembered that a suitable provision of such facilities will mean a very useful investment in public health.
I hope, Sir, that in the projected reclamation in Kowloon in future the same consideration will be given to the provision of parks and playgrounds and also sitting-out areas. I am speaking in a dual capacity as a member of this Council and as a member of the Kowloon Residents' Association.
With these few words, Mr. Chairman, I have pleasure in supporting the motion.
MR. WILFRED S. B. WONG:--Mr. Chairman, all that I wanted to say in support of this motion has been covered prolifically by eloquent speakers. I merely want to say that I would like to support this motion on its pure merits.
CHAIRMAN:--I have listened with considerable interest to the views expressed in this debate. I can assure Members that the fact that the western district is heavily over-populated and gravely short of open space is fully appreciated by Government. My friend, the Director of Public Works, in Chapter 7, paragraph 8, of the Town Planning Board's
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132
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
I feel that the motion that he has moved is a worthy one, because in the Western District there are 400.000 people living mostly in grossly congested tenements-I am referring to the area between the Central area and the Pok Fu Lam district. Of these 400,000 people living in the Western District, there are approximately 100-105,000 children of school age and, as Mr. SALES mentioned in moving the motion, up to June this year there were 70,000 children going to school. This will mean, Mr. Chairman, that in the Western District alone there are 35,000 children and youths who, because they do not have any school to go to, are highly susceptible to roaming the streets and mixing in bad company or being lured into triad activities or into dope peddling or dope addiction.
Even for the 70,000 children who are going to school, the recrea- tional facilities after class is over are incredibly poor. In June 1961, there were 208 schools in the Western District and of this number, only 23 had playgrounds, 14 of which belong to Government-run and Government-aided schools. Now, this means that 185 private schools had no playground facilities whatsoever. So the great majority of the children who are studying in these 185 private schools have been unable to avail themselves of any public recreational facilities because of the paucity of playgrounds in the Western District.
In the entire Central and Western Districts, Mr. Chairman, from the sea-level right up to the mid-level we have only (please correct me if I am wrong) five public playgrounds, the total area of which is approximately twice the size of the Cricket Club ground. How can this very limited playground space cater to the needs of hundreds of thousands of children who live in the frightfully congested Central and Western Districts? It beggars the imagination--and I assume that Members of this Council are persons of imagination, vision and sympathy.
I have read through the Central Area Redevelopment Report and, in passing, I would like to congratulate the Director of Public Works on this Report. I find it highly informative and a very well-prepared Report. I am only sorry that, where the plan shows a car park at the western end of the reclamation, there is no mention of the roof of the car park being used as a sitting-out area or playground. I am also sorry that the Town Planning Board summarily dismisses the claim of residents living in the Sai Ying Pun area for more playgrounds and sitting-out areas by stating that "reclamation lands are hardly suitable for this purpose and are in any case too valuable commercially to be so set aside." However, the appalling lack of playgrounds and sitting- out areas in both Central and Western Districts has spurred the Town Planning Board to recommend that the problem should be examined by Government as a separate issue.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
133
Recently, I suggested that the Public Works Department should supply this Council with a list of all the sites which might be available for recreational development by Council within the next 5 years. If and when this list is furnished, I hope that it will contain sufficient sitting-out areas in the Western District. I expect too that the provision of such sites should be clearly indicated in any future plan which the Town Planning Board will prepare for the Western District.
Mr. Chairman, I have much pleasure in supporting the motion. MR. LI YIU-BOR:--Mr. Chairman, I rise to support the motion put forward by Mr. SALES this afternoon.
I did not particularly want to speak this afternoon, but at the same time I do not want Mr. SALES to think that his excellent motion is not supported by a fellow member of the Kowloon Residents' Association. (Laughter). Anyone who takes a leisurely walk from the Central District to Kennedy Town will not fail to notice that playgrounds and sitting-out areas are sadly conspicuous by their absence, and therefore Mr. SALES' motion to urge Government to provide such facilities in the Western District will, I have no doubt, be supported by Members of this Council.
I may be wrong, but the scarcity, and consequently the high cost, of land in Hong Kong very often adversely affect the decision of those responsible for town planning to provide suitable facilities for the benefit of the general public, but it should be remembered that a suitable provision of such facilities will mean a very useful investment in public health.
I hope, Sir, that in the projected reclamation in Kowloon in future the same consideration will be given to the provision of parks and playgrounds and also sitting-out areas. I am speaking in a dual capacity as a member of this Council and as a member of the Kowloon Residents' Association.
With these few words, Mr. Chairman, I have pleasure in supporting the motion.
MR. WILFRED S. B. WONG:-Mr. Chairman, all that I wanted to say in support of this motion has been covered prolifically by eloquent speakers. I merely want to say that I would like to support this motion on its pure merits.
CHAIRMAN:-I have listened with considerable interest to the views expressed in this debate. I can assure Members that the fact that the western district is heavily over-populated and gravely short of open space is fully appreciated by Government. My friend, the Director of Public Works, in Chapter 7, paragraph 8, of the Town Planning Board's
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