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massive scale in the urban areas. We are appreciative of the valiant efforts now being made by the Department in response to our wishes, but we are really concerned that Government has not yet told us that the administrative and technical staff the Department needs to give substance to the Council's plans will be made available without delay.
It is reported that in 1963 the Council has actually planted about 24,000 trees and shrubs and we are assured that this figure will be increased impressively in the years to come. Many such plants are unfortunately lost each year by being wantonly uprooted. To counter-act such lack of civic consciousness, I wonder whether the Education Department could be persuaded to join this Council in carrying out a widely publicized tree-planting week with school-children actively taking part.
The postwar re-development of many sites in Tsim Sha Tsui, among other districts, has caused a deterioration of living conditions. There is without doubt much anxiety lest the problems which are bad even now become much worse in time. Unless strong practical measures are taken to control and regulate the situation among these postwar slums and to prevent more such projects from being carried out in disregard of long-term public interest, these evil and filthy conditions will give rise to social and health problems with grim consequences for Hong Kong as a whole.
There has been recently, Mr. Chairman, a rising tide of publicity about what Government is doing in Kowloon. Whether such clever timing is intended to anticipate the critical remarks I can be expected to make on this occasion, I cannot say. But I am always willing to have my position so pleasantly undermined if it means in fact that in doing so Government is serving the interest of Kowloon. I ought to say though, Mr. Chairman, that it will be a long time before the neglect of the past is made good. So, for the present, my position is eloquently expressed by the passage from Ecclesiastes: "Eye looks on unsatisfied; ear listens, ill content."
Likewise, Mr. Chairman, I support your motion. (Applause).
DR. R. H. S. LEE:--Mr. Chairman, from my own experience in participating in previous annual debates of this Council, the greatest bugbear I have found is not so much in the choice of subject matter as being able to pack the greatest amount of material in the limited time available to each Member. In view of the wealth of local problems requiring urgent attention—such as water, transportation, housing, medical facilities, resettlement and so on—there is no great difficulty in singling out any particular one for detailed examination and exposition. We all appreciate that they are not easy problems to resolve because formed sites and access roads are not easy to come by in Hong Kong,
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but have to be made either by rock blasting or by land reclamation. Because of our land shortage and the inadequacy of natural resources, it is more important than ever that we should plan ahead and grapple with the various and urgent problems as quickly as possible, for, Mr. Chairman, unless we do, they will not become easier but more difficult with the passage of time. Due to the rapid growth of population, it is far wiser to err on the liberal side than it is to think that they might become too excessive, and then live to regret it ever after.
Mr. Chairman, I cannot emphasize too strongly the need for our resettlement programme to be accelerated. Although we have resettled some half a million people, there are still more than 500,000 persons remaining to be settled. In this connection I want to emphasize the point that the people living in resettlement areas are the poorest of the poor, and if for any reason whatever Government wants to increase revenue from this source, I am not in favour of increasing rentals for the old Mark I and II resettlement blocks. Unless we can resettle the roof-top and pavement squatters, we can see no vast improvement in the sanitary condition of the urban areas. In view of the fact that Cholera and Typhoid are now endemic diseases, it is important and cogent that we should give this matter priority rating.
Sir, we should provide more new and wider roads to cater for our ever growing city. Every opportunity should be taken, and I refer in passing, Mr. Chairman, to the re-development of Tsim Sha Tsui where wide peripheral roads, say, along Chatham Road and Canton Road should be developed to divert traffic away from the centre of the peninsula. More and better access roads to the New Territories should be built to serve the fast developing towns of Kwai Chung and Tsuen Wan. I cannot stress too strongly at this stage the need to improve the congested traffic condition at the Lai Chi Kok bottleneck of Castle Peak Road.
More pedestrian subways should be built at strategic points such as at the junction of Shan Tung Street and Nathan Road, Ice House Street and Queen's Road Central, Castle Peak Road and Fuk Wah Street—where vehicular and pedestrian traffic is heaviest.
In view of the inadequate public transport service and the long queue that one sees at almost every bus stop, at every time of the day it is opportune that Government should consider the introduction of another type of public transport. I know Mr. WATSON prefers the underground but I prefer, of course, the monorail system. A suggested route worth trying out at this stage is to link up Tsuen Wan with Kowloon at the new Hunghom Terminus via the Star Ferry Concourse. It should be a popular route which is at present not served by a railway. If it proves successful, of course, it can be extended to other areas of
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massive scale in the urban areas. We are appreciative of the valiant efforts now being made by the Department in response to our wishes, but we are really concerned that Government has not yet told us that the administrative and technical staff the Department needs to give substance to the Council's plans will be made available without delay.
It is reported that in 1963 the Council has actually planted about 24,000 trees and shrubs and we are assured that this figure will be increased impressively in the years to come. Many such plants are unfortunately lost each year by being wantonly uprooted. To counter- act such lack of civic consciousness, I wonder whether the Education Department could be persuaded to join this Council in carrying out a widely publicized tree-planting week with school-children actively taking part.
The postwar re-development of many sites in Tsim Sha Tsui, among other districts, has caused a deterioration of living conditions. There is without doubt much anxiety lest the problems which are bad even now become much worse in time. Unless strong practical measures are taken to control and regulate the situation among these postwar slums and to prevent more such projects from being carried out in disregard of long-term public interest, these evil and filthy conditions will give rise to social and health problems with grim consequences for Hong Kong as a whole.
There has been recently, Mr. Chairman, a rising tide of publicity about what Government is doing in Kowloon. Whether such clever timing is intended to anticipate the critical remarks I can be expected to make on this occasion, I cannot say. But I am always willing to have my position so pleasantly undermined if it means in fact that in doing so Government is serving the interest of Kowloon. I ought to say though, Mr. Chairman, that it will be a long time before the neglect of the past is made good. So, for the present, my position is eloquently expressed by the passage from Ecclesiastes: "Eye looks on unsatisfied; ear listens, ill content."
Likewise, Mr. Chairman, I support your motion. (Applause).
DR. R. H. S. LEE:--Mr. Chairman, from my own experience in participating in previous annual debates of this Council, the greatest bugbear I have found is not so much in the choice of subject matter as being able to pack the greatest amount of material in the limited time available to each Member. In view of the wealth of local problems requiring urgent attention-such as water, transportation, housing, medical facilities, resettlement and so on-there is no great difficulty in singling out any particular one for detailed examination and exposition. We all appreciate that they are not easy problems to resolve because formed sites and access roads are not easy to come by in Hong Kong,
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
237
but have to be made either by rock blasting or by land reclamation. Because of our land shortage and the inadequacy of natural resources, it is more important than ever that we should plan ahead and grapple with the various and urgent problems as quickly as possible, for, Mr. Chairman, unless we do, they will not become easier but more difficult with the passage of time. Due to the rapid growth of population, it is far wiser to err on the liberal side than it is to think that they might become too excessive, and then live to regret it ever after.
Mr. Chairman, I cannot emphasize too strongly the need for our resettlement programme to be accelerated. Although we have resettled some half a million people, there are still more than 500,000 persons remaining to be settled. In this connection I want to emphasize the point that the people living in resettlement areas are the poorest of the poor, and if for any reason whatever Government wants to increase revenue from this source, I am not in favour of increasing rentals for the old Mark I and II resettlement blocks. Unless we can resettle the roof-top and pavement squatters, we can see no vast improvement in the sanitary condition of the urban areas. In view of the fact that Cholera and Typhoid are now endemic diseases, it is important and cogent that we should give this matter priority rating.
Sir, we should provide more new and wider roads to cater for our ever growing city. Every opportunity should be taken, and I refer in passing, Mr. Chairman, to the re-development of Tsim Sha Tsui where wide peripheral roads, say, along Chatham Road and Canton Road should be developed to divert traffic away from the centre of the peninsula. More and better access roads to the New Territories should be built to serve the fast developing towns of Kwai Chung and Tsuen Wan. I cannot stress too strongly at this stage the need to improve the congested traffic condition at the Lai Chi Kok bottleneck of Castle Peak Road.
More pedestrian subways should be built at strategic points such as at the junction of Shan Tung Street and Nathan Road, Ice House Street and Queen's Road Central, Castle Peak Road and Fuk Wah Street-where vehicular and pedestrian traffic is heaviest.
In view of the inadequate public transport service and the long queue that one sees at almost every bus stop, at every time of the day it is opportune that Government should consider the introduction of another type of public transport. I know Mr. WATSON prefers the underground but I prefer, of course, the monorail system. A suggested route worth trying out at this stage is to link up Tsuen Wan with Kowloon at the new Hunghom Terminus via the Star Ferry Concourse. It should be a popular route which is at present not served by a railway. If it proves successful, of course, it can be extended to other areas of
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