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room for lighters)-could provide an area of water certainly far larger than the Serpentine, which could be used for rowing boats and similar craft operating from Victoria Park.

The need is so obvious that I shall do no more than repeat the title of Mr. SALES' speech at the Lions Club last week "Wanted: More action for pleasure grounds."

I beg to second the motion.

MR. B. A. BERNACCHI:-I am happy to support this motion, especially after the seconder has mentioned our reform duties. (Laughter). It is ridiculous that the development of the land set aside in Government plans as open space should not be re-developed accord- ingly, just because Government is having difficulty in finding purchasers for other parts of the land to be developed by buildings. Victoria Park is very useful, particularly for residents living in the eastern district, in- cluding North Point, and indeed also for residents in districts of Kowloon that are served by ferries coming to the eastern end of the City of Victoria. But the development of open spaces in the Central District has a potential to serve a larger proportion of the people of Hong Kong, both of the Island and of Kowloon. It provides an essen- tial breathing lung that can even be used by office workers in their lunch hours, and it is very likely to be extensively used throughout the day and evening all days of the week. So I say again why is it that Govern- ment has delayed in putting the open spaces that they allocate in their own plans to public use?

Mr. Chairman, I support the motion.

DR. P. F. Woo:-Mr. Chairman, I give full support to my friend Mr. SALES' motion, and as this is the second motion in succession dealing with open spaces for recreational purposes, I feel obliged to say a few words as a member of the Urban Amenities Select Committee.

With the rapid growth of the local population, there is an urgent need for more public playgrounds to be provided by Government. The land in question is suitably located for public recreational purposes and would be very welcome particularly to the people of Wan Chai which is densely populated. However, the fact that only one tender has been received for the sale of the former Naval Dockyard might make Govern- ment alter its plans. It is natural therefore that Mr. SALES should have misgivings in his mind, and this motion is very opportune indeed. Government must bear in mind the great benefit this open space would give to the people on the eastern side of the Island, and must release the area so that it could be put to public use without unnecessary delay.

I would like to make one suggestion. It has been the tradition to provide football pitches, swings, etc., in the public parks in the Colony.

It is time that some new ideas should be introduced in the new recrea- tional grounds to be built, such as skating rinks, badminton courts, etc. In other words, very careful planning is required in order that the land in question might be used to advantage. As careful planning takes time, our Council must ask Government immediately for this piece of land in the former Naval Dockyard so that planning can start as soon as possible, when it is expedient to do so.

DR. A. M. S. BELL:--Mr. Chairman, I fully support Mr. SALES' motion. Wherever land has been earmarked for open space there should be absolutely no delay in developing permanently or temporarily such areas for public use. The land referred to here is very centrally situated and with the hot weather coming on and the lack of open space for people to relax in throughout the day and evening becoming daily more obvious, then it would be a bad disservice to our citizens to leave this open space on paper only and not develop it at all. Even if it is only developed meanwhile on a temporary basis as a playground for children with swings, seesaws, sand-pits, and the like, and from my experience they are still the most popular with our children, and some benches and pavilion shades for adults to sit of a free hour or evening until full development can take place, all these items could be used in permanent development later on and so money would not be wasted. With the present temporary lull in building there will doubtless be some delay in the building development of this area, and so all the more reason not to wait for this building to take place first, but rather to develop the open space first. In spite of the statistics quoted at last month's meeting by the Honourable Director of Public Works of areas developed for open space and areas developed for building purposes during the past five years, I still reiterate that we are lamentably short of open spaces, because, as the Honourable Director knows full well, we have not yet succeeded in creating "multi-storey" open spaces or football fields or children's playgrounds. So while his figures look good as compared square foot to square foot on the ground level, he seems to quite discount the height and therefore the density upon the building developed areas, and when density of population is considered we are appallingly badly off for open air breathing spaces and recreational areas in our city.

MR. HENRY HU:-Mr. Chairman, I also support the motion of Mr. SALES. I have two points to make. First, I would like the Govern- ment to give us as large a piece of land as possible, not a small piece of land just to fulfil the request of the Urban Council. The second point I would like to make is that I think in Europe, in most important cities, usually there are squares in the centre of the town. Then office employees can have fresh air, have their rest there, or even have their sandwiches there during lunch hour. So I would like Government to have this so-called open space as near to the centre as possible, not far