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to carry out their respective assignments effectively. More, they should always be on the look-out for better ways of serving the public.

At the same time, Mr. Chairman, I would like to call for more support from the Government. May the Government also exercise better control over its officers. My experience suggests that there are a few who, subtly or otherwise, seem to play down the role of the Council, undermine its work and resist the implementation of its programmes. Why should this be so? Presumably because the Council has not been slow in its criticism of official shortcomings and has been openly im- patient with the slow progress in implementing projects and programmes intended for the benefit of the people. Moreover, the Council is in the vanguard of the demand for reform of the local administration and advocates curbing the excessive power of the Civil Service which is not good for modern Hong Kong. There is thus reason to ask the Govern- ment to turn over a new leaf in its relations with this Council.

Mr. Chairman, in general, it appears to me that it is imperative for the Government to do all it can to win the active support of the masses. Taking the people for granted is just as dangerous a practice as it is for any government to discount public opinion. Even so, it is just not good enough to know what the public wants and to determine what is good for the public; more important, the public must know and agree that what the Government does is good for them. Indeed, to interpret Government actions and policies in a proper and intelligent way is of paramount importance.

I wonder whether the Government is harnessing properly all its resources to reach the minds of the people here. Is the Government in particular winning over our younger citizens? All the public money we are spending on any and all the programmes for the good of Hong Kong would not endear the administration to the people if the Govern- ment fails to identify in the minds of the masses, particularly the rising generation, that all governmental measures have only one end in view: the well-being of the people for whom Hong Kong is home.

I believe I said so in my maiden speech in this Council ten years ago. I have repeated it since. I do so again today.

Parks, Recreation and Amenities

Mr. Chairman, this would not be a Council debate if I did not speak on this subject. Perhaps the good effort this Council has made in the last several years to plant many hundreds of thousands of trees and shrubs and to lay flower beds in a drive to improve the appearance of the urban areas, where it has been possible to do so, has been over- looked because of other more vital issues. Yet this programme goes on all the time. More and more staff are being trained for horticultural work. Soon enough, the Council will hold a flower show, a modest

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one to start off, for sure, but it is hoped that it will stir public interest and gain the co-operation of more people for our urban beautification programme.

The Council has made striking progress in building playgrounds and sports facilities in the last decade and there are many projects to be completed in the years immediately ahead. Still, our own present circumstances are such that the pace cannot be slowed down. On the contrary, we must step up our effort to carry out the ambitious programme the Council has drawn up to give the youth of Hong Kong the recreational opportunities so very badly needed here.

There are several old built-up areas where there is a dreadful short- age of play facilities, if they exist at all. New housing estates are built with open spaces reserved for development as playgrounds which must await the allocation of other funds to do so when they should have been built as an integral part of the cost of such estates. Plans for these and other neighbourhood recreational amenities should obviously not be de- ferred. I am as I have always been dead set against any cutback in expenditure for the development of playgrounds. Rather than save money here and on other vital programmes, our authorities should accept it as their function, nay, even as their duty, to raise the funds that may be required by increasing taxes, where there is scope.

It is certainly not enough to provide the physical facilities for sport and recreation. It is also important to engage properly trained play- leaders and well-qualified organizers so that we may put on programmes to attract people to spend their increasing leisure in healthy pursuits in our parks and playgrounds. Organizing play activities throughout Hong Kong ought to be accepted as a governmental responsibility either directly by preference or through unstinted support of sports associations and youth welfare institutions.

The Government has rightly professed concern for the welfare of youth. It will, I trust, lead in time to far more effective and imagina- tive measures to make life more pleasant and meaningful for them. It would be dangerous if the aspirations of our young people were frustrat- ed. So, whatever may be done, let the Government not be parsimonious in providing them with schooling, training for employment and recrea- tional opportunities for their health and leisure.

General

Mr. Chairman, just as every child born in Hong Kong must be guaranteed a place in school to the limit of its ability, in my opinion, so I hold too that it is the direct responsibility of the public administra- tion to regulate local conditions to ensure that the mass of people here will benefit most from the exploitation of our human, economic and other resources. It is not enough for the authorities to set up and

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