HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Chairman of the Select Committee concerned may wish to say something on the matter.
MR. MARDEN: -The paper referred to in your answer is in our hands, and the Select Committee will be meeting very shortly in order to discuss this question. In it there is reference to a new process, an Australian one, which we are trying to persuade the industry to use. At the moment I think over 50% of them seem to be willing to do so. We need to study the matter further before we can see what happens to those who are left in the Kennedy Town area, but I think there is a distinct possibility of a solution.
DR. LEE: I am sure you must be aware that in the bone-storage plants in Kennedy Town lots of flies and maggots have been bred. If the new process is introduced I hope these offences will be removed.
CHAIRMAN: -Sir, I believe it is the intention that these offences should be removed.
MR. SALES: -Mr. Chairman, would the area be big enough to hold a market, a post office and a secondary school, and yet leave enough land for a playground?
CHAIRMAN: -Sir, I think that you are introducing some new matter, but the Director of Public Works may wish to answer your question.
MR. SALES: Sir, it is not new matter. It is in reference to the third sentence of paragraph (a) of your answer.
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS: -The answer, Mr. Chairman, is as you say, that the plan has not been worked out in detail, but I was looking at it this afternoon, rather in anticipation of this question. I would say that the area of the playground will be somewhere between 2 and 3 acres, so it will be a fairly sizeable playground.
MR. SALES: Mr. Chairman, I am appreciative of the answer given to me by our colleague, the Director of Public Works, and I would like the Town Planning Board, or the Public Works Department, to bear in mind the motion that has been adopted in this Council concerning playgrounds in the Western District, of which there is a complete absence at sea level at the present time.
MR. WILSON WANG: -Mr. Chairman, in view of the very depressing shortage of playgrounds in the Western District, and in order that we may have early use of this playground, does the Chairman think that it is advisable that the Urban Council be consulted as early as possible about the details and the layout of the proposed playground?
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DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS: -I think that if the area is not going to become available until 1966, and the Urban Council is consulted now, we might put the file away and overlook it. I suggest that the Council be consulted at the end of 1964, or early in 1965, when the new abattoirs are really under construction. We will then have 18 months which is enough time to get down to detailed planning.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN: -Mr. Chairman, on a point of order, where are we now? On slaughterhouses or on playgrounds? Would it help if a suggestion were put forward that a playground be put on top of the new slaughterhouse?
MR. WILSON WANG: -Mr. Chairman, may I ask whether you think that in general practice any recommendations made by the Urban Council can materialize within two years? Or am I wrong in assuming that in the past there has been experience where recommendations have been made 4 or 5 years' ahead, and it then turned out that the Public Works Department have always said that they have not been given enough time to prepare an estimate for particular project?
CHAIRMAN: -Sir, these views are interesting. I seem to have heard them before. (Laughter). I must say, with respect, that I think you are now straying from the original question.
MRS. E. ELLIOTT asked the following question:
(a) Would the Resettlement Department consider setting up some kind of checking system to ensure that no errors are made by screening officers?
(b) In cases where it is found that screening officers have made erroneous reports, what departmental action is taken?
(c) Is it true that old people of over 70, and women with very small children, are being resited indiscriminately on inaccessible hilltops?
THE COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT replied as follows:
The first question concerns the checking of reports made by screening officers.
As I said in reply to a question from the same Member on 2nd July, favourable reports made by screening officers are not normally checked. If any case of doubt arises, this is referred to the Investigation Staff, who are an entirely separate branch of the Clearance Unit. Decisions
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Page 106 of 194
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Chairman of the Select Committee concerned may wish to say some- thing on the matter.
MR. MARDEN: -The paper referred to in your answer is in our hands, and the Select Committee will be meeting very shortly in order to discuss this question. In it there is reference to a new process, an Australian one, which we are trying to persuade the industry to use. At the moment I think over 50% of them seem to be willing to do so. We need to study the matter further before we can see what happens to those who are left in the Kennedy Town area, but I think there is a distinct possibility of a solution.
DR. LEE: I am sure you must be aware that in the bone-storage plants in Kennedy Town lots of flies and maggots have been bred. If the new process is introduced I hope these offences will be removed.
CHAIRMAN:-Sir, I believe it is the intention that these offences should be removed.
MR. SALES: -Mr. Chairman, would the area be big enough to hold a market, a post office and a secondary school, and yet leave enough land for a playground?
CHAIRMAN:-Sir, I think that you are introducing some new matter, but the Director of Public Works may wish to answer your question.
MR. SALES: Sir, it is not new matter. It is in reference to the third sentence of paragraph (a) of your answer.
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS:-The answer, Mr. Chairman, is as you say, that the plan has not been worked out in detail, but I was looking at it this afternoon, rather in anticipation of this question. I would say that the area of the playground will be somewhere between 2 and 3 acres, so it will be a fairly sizeable playground.
MR. SALES: Mr. Chairman, I am appreciative of the answer given to me by our colleague, the Director of Public Works, and I would like the Town Planning Board, or the Public Works Department, to bear in mind the motion that has been adopted in this Council concerning playgrounds in the Western District, of which there is a complete absence at sea level at the present time.
MR. WILSON WANG:--Mr. Chairman, in view of the very depressing shortage of playgrounds in the Western District, and in order that we may have early use of this playground, does the Chairman think that it is advisable that the Urban Council be consulted as early as possible about the details and the layout of the proposed playground?
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195
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS:-I think that if the area is not going
to become available until 1966, and the Urban Council is consulted now, we might put the file away and overlook it. I suggest that the Council be consulted at the end of 1964, or early in 1965, when the new abattoirs are really under construction. We will then have 18 months which is enough time to get down to detailed planning.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, on a point of order, where are we now? On slaughterhouses or on playgrounds? Would it help if a suggestion were put forward that a playground be put on top of the new slaughterhouse?
MR. WILSON WANG:-Mr. Chairman, may I ask whether you think that in general practice any recommendations made by the Urban Council can materialize within two years? Or am I wrong in assuming that in the past there has been experience where recommendations have been made 4 or 5 years' ahead, and it then turned out that the Public Works Department have always said that they have not been given enough time to prepare an estimate for particular project?
CHAIRMAN: -Sir, these views are interesting. I seem to have heard them before. (Laughter). I must say, with respect, that I think you are now straying from the original question.
MRS. E. ELLIOTT asked the following question:
(a) Would the Resettlement Department consider setting up some kind of checking system to ensure that no errors are made by screening officers?
(b) In cases where it is found that screening officers have made erroneous reports, what departmental action is taken?
(c) Is it true that old people of over 70, and women with very small children, are being resited indiscriminately on inaccessible hilltops?
THE COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT replied as follows:
The first question concerns the checking of reports made by
screening officers.
As I said in reply to a question from the same Member on 2nd July, favourable reports made by screening officers are not normally checked. If any case of doubt arises, this is referred to the Investigation Staff, who are an entirely separate branch of the Clearance Unit. Decisions
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