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construction of minor recreation areas, will enable large sectors of the urban population to enjoy a wide variety of facilities for outdoor leisure where there is land set aside for this purpose.
MR. BERNACCHI:- A few supplementaries. First of all, again I would like to thank Mr. SALES for a very full answer. The first supplementary is, is the Chairman of the Parks, Recreation and Amenities Select Committee aware of the vast number of children that appear on the street of Chai Wan in the evenings, perhaps because they have insufficient playgrounds to accommodate them?
MR. SALES: Mr. Chairman, on the last counting the number was just over 20,000 juveniles in the resettlement area under Mr. BERNACCHI'S direct responsibility, and I am grateful to Mr. BERNACCHI for having focused attention on the great need for playgrounds in Chai Wan. I can only hope that members of the Urban Council responsible for other wards would do likewise and focus attention on the dreadful shortage of playgrounds in their respective areas, because that would be serving the purpose of the Parks, Recreation and Amenities Select Committee to ask Government for more land and more money in order to meet the needs of young people in urban Hong Kong, Kowloon and New Kowloon.
MR. BERNACCHI:- The second question is, as the task of resolving many competing claims on our limited financial resources is accepted by the Chairman of the Parks, Recreation and Amenities Select Committee, is the Chairman aware that the block vote, as he has called it, is at the moment utterly inadequate if it is to include these big resettlement estates?
MR. SALES: -Mr. Chairman, may I say once again how deeply grateful my colleagues and I on the Parks, Recreation and Amenities Select Committee are to Mr. BERNACCHI for this question. The Urban Council has moved, I believe, a motion asking Government to increase the amount of the block vote to $5,000,000, for the simple reason that we are acutely conscious of the fact that $2,000,000 is certainly not enough for all the needs of urban Hong Kong, Kowloon and New Kowloon. I can only hope that through this public meeting today those who are in control of the finances of Hong Kong would not be so unmindful of the needs of the people as to reduce our application for $5,000,000.
MR. BERNACCHI :· -A last supplementary which includes both questions really and that is, when there is lighting in the areas that are unlit at present, will they be kept open after dark?
MR. SALES: -Yes, Mr. Chairman, in the same way as all the other play areas in Hong Kong where there is floodlighting. I would like to leave this map with Mr. BERNACCHI because in the map we have plotted all the points where there is already lighting in Chai Wan. We have also plotted all the places where lighting is going to be installed in the immediate future, and if Mr. BERNACCHI would like to make suggestions on the basis of his own intimate knowledge of this ward, the Select Committee would be very happy to consider those suggestions. At this point I would like to record my appreciation of the very fine work done by the Secretary of the Urban Council, the Assistant Director of Parks, Recreation and Amenities Division and his officers in carrying out such a detailed examination of Chai Wan in order to enable me to give Mr. BERNACCHI the full answer to which he is entitled.
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DR. BELL: Mr. Chairman, may I ask a further supplementary question? If the $5,000,000 is not forthcoming, would the Chairman of the Parks, Recreation and Amenities Select Committee consider suggesting that the Resettlement Department should be responsible for providing the playgrounds in Resettlement Estates?
MR. SALES: -Mr. Chairman, may I say once again how indebted I am to my colleague, Dr. BELL, the Chairman of the Resettlement Policy Select Committee, for emphasising a point which Urban Councillors have brought up time and again: that when a resettlement estate is constructed the playground should be part of the job and should be ready at the time when the people move in and not be considered as a separate project altogether coming out of a different vote of money. It is not money that should be the primary consideration, but that of having the facilities ready for the children to use at the time that they become tenants of the Resettlement Estate.
(3) MR. B. A. BERNACCHI asked the following question:
The Hawker Control Force is the disciplined body of men responsible for doing such acts or things as may be necessary for the purpose of implementing every decision of the Council under Section 55 of the Urban Council Ordinance. It is therefore most necessary that the Hawker Control Force be kept up to the strength necessary for those purposes.
(a) Could the Chairman therefore give to this Council an up-to-date assessment of the strength of the Hawker Control Force on the ground as compared with the strength at present allowed for and the reasons why it is under-established?
(b) In particular could the Chairman give the reason for the pay of the Hawker Control Force being below the pay of
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construction of minor recreation areas, will enable large sectors of the urban population to enjoy a wide variety of facilities for outdoor leisure where there is land set aside for this purpose.
MR. BERNACCHI:-A few supplementaries. First of all, again I would like to thank Mr. SALES for a very full answer. The first supple- mentary is, is the Chairman of the Parks, Recreation and Amenities Select Committee aware of the vast number of children that appear on the street of Chai Wan in the evenings, perhaps because they have insufficient playgrounds to accommodate them?
MR. SALES: Mr. Chairman, on the last counting the number was just over 20,000 juveniles in the resettlement area under Mr. BERNACCHI'S direct responsibility, and I am grateful to Mr. BERNACCHI for having focused attention on the great need for playgrounds in Chai Wan. 1 can only hope that members of the Urban Council responsible for other wards would do likewise and focus attention on the dreadful shortage of playgrounds in their respective areas, because that would be serving the purpose of the Parks, Recreation and Amenities Select Committee to ask Government for more land and more money in order to meet the needs of young people in urban Hong Kong, Kowloon and New Kowloon.
MR. BERNACCHI:-The second question is, as the task of resolving many competing claims on our limited financial resources is accepted by the Chairman of the Parks, Recreation and Amenities Select Com- mittee, is the Chairman aware that the block vote, as he has called it, is at the moment utterly inadequate if it is to include these big resettle- ment estates?
MR. SALES: -Mr. Chairman, may I say once again how deeply grateful my colleagues and I on the Parks, Recreation and Amenities Select Committee are to Mr. BERNACCHI for this question. The Urban Council has moved, I believe, a motion asking Government to increase the amount of the block vote to $5,000,000, for the simple reason that we are acutely conscious of the fact that $2,000,000 is certainly not enough for all the needs of urban Hong Kong, Kowloon and New Kowloon. I can only hope that through this public meeting today those who are in control of the finances of Hong Kong would not be so unmindful of the needs of the people as to reduce our application for $5,000,000.
MR. BERNACCHI :· -A last supplementary which includes both questions really and that is, when there is lighting in the areas that are unlit at present, will they be kept open after dark?
MR. SALES: -Yes, Mr. Chairman, in the same way as all the other play areas in Hong Kong where there is floodlighting. I would like
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to leave this map with Mr. BERNACCHI because in the map we have plotted all the points where there is already lighting in Chai Wan. We have also plotted all the places where lighting is going to be installed in the immediate future, and if Mr. BERNACCHI would like to make suggestions on the basis of his own intimate knowledge of this ward, the Select Committee would be very happy to consider those suggestions. At this point I would like to record my appreciation of the very fine work done by the Secretary of the Urban Council, the Assistant Director of Parks, Recreation and Amenities Division and his officers in carrying out such a detailed examination of Chai Wan in order to enable me to give Mr. BERNACCHI the full answer to which he is entitled.
DR. BELL: Mr. Chairman, may I ask a further supplementary question? If the $5,000,000 is not forthcoming, would the Chairman of the Parks, Recreation and Amenities Select Committee consider sug- gesting that the Resettlement Department should be responsible for providing the playgrounds in Resettlement Estates?
MR. SALES: -Mr. Chairman, may I say once again how indebted I am to my colleague, Dr. BELL, the Chairman of the Resettlement Policy Select Committee, for emphasising a point which Urban Council- lors have brought up time and again: that when a resettlement estate is constructed the playground should be part of the job and should be ready at the time when the people move in and not be considered as a separate project altogether coming out of a different vote of money. It is not money that should be the primary consideration, but that of having the facilities ready for the children to use at the time that they become tenants of the Resettlement Estate.
(3) MR. B. A. BERNACCHI asked the following question:
The Hawker Control Force is the disciplined body of men responsible for doing such acts or things as may be nec- essary for the purpose of implementing every decision of the Council under Section 55 of the Urban Council Or- dinance. It is therefore most necessary that the Hawker Control Force be kept up to the strength necessary for those purposes.
(a) Could the Chairman therefore give to this Council an up- to-date assessment of the strength of the Hawker Control Force on the ground as compared with the strength at present allowed for and the reasons why it is under- established?
(b) In particular could the Chairman give the reason for the pay of the Hawker Control Force being below the pay of
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