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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS: -Mr. Chairman, I will do anything I can to do my work efficiently, but I am not the watch-dog on behalf of the Council for the Colonial Secretariat.

MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, I might say in clarification, I have not asked Mr. WRIGHT to be the watch-dog of the Colonial Secretariat for which he is not qualified, but I am simply asking him to ensure that something which he has spent so much time to have accom- plished in his Department does bear fruitful results before he leaves Hong Kong.

MR. SALES: Mr. Chairman, I have a simple supplementary question based on the original question, a point which I strongly advocate both in public and in Select Committee, that is, in the sub- mission to the Public Works Sub-committee, has the Director of Public Works supported the suggestion made to have the indoor stadium air- conditioned entirely?

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS:-Yes, Mr. Chairman, this is why the estimate is about $12.5 million. I am sure Mr. SALES nevertheless will recollect that we were asked to see what could be done in the way of providing the stadium for $10 million. We did produce a scheme, the one which was tabled before Mr. SALES' committee was $11.5 million for forced ventilation, not air-conditioning. To air-condition the stadium is $12.5 million, and this is the figure the Public Works are recom- mending.

MR. SALES: Sir, I do not wish to contravene Standing Orders as Mr. CHEONG-LEEN is in the habit of doing, in spite of the fact that he is Chairman of the Standing Orders & Procedure Select Committee, so I will put it as a supplementary question. Will you, Sir, as the Director of Urban Services Department, support very strongly the sub- mission made by the Public Works Department that the stadium be air-conditioned. Will you do that, as that is, in point of fact, the decision of the Select Committee?

CHAIRMAN: -Yes, Mr. SALES.

MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, can I ask Mr. SALES through you whether his committee is in favour of the site to be over the proposed new railway terminus, as mentioned in the penultimate para- graph of the reply?

MR. SALES: -Mr. Chairman, I believe that was the recommenda- tion of my Select Committee, and I would assure Mr. CHEONG-LEEN that that recommendation was based on the interest of Hong Kong as a whole and was not put forward by the Kowloon residents. (Laughter).

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(4) MR. H. CHEONG-LEEN asked the following question:

Although there are student reading sections in the City Hall Library and the Kowloon Public Library, these two libraries are very far away from many resettlement estates; can the Chairman of the Library Select Committee look into the possibility of obtaining from the Resettlement Department a certain amount of space in each resettle- ment estate to provide student reading rooms for students living in such estates? Will it also be possible for the Library Select Committee to supply these student reading rooms with suitable reading material for the students who could use the rooms either for reading purposes or for studying?

MRS. E. ELLIOTT, CHAIRMAN OF THE LIBRARY SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows:

The Social Welfare Department already provides limited reading/study-room facilities within community centres in or near to 10 Resettlement Estates in the urban area. The Department will also provide facilities in estate welfare buildings which have been or will be provided in new estates. An area of 2,300 square feet in each of the nine existing and proposed welfare buildings has been ear- marked for use as a library with reading rooms. The services and reading material are expected to be provided in each case by voluntary welfare organizations. The first welfare building was opened in January in Ham Tin Area A. The construction of another five buildings is expected to be completed either in this year or by early 1970. Three other buildings are being planned.

I would point out that following the motion which was passed by this Council in June, 1968, the Library Select Com- mittee was authorized to submit proposals to develop study/reading rooms in overcrowded urban areas. The Committee subsequently submitted a proposal that one of the old barrack buildings within Kowloon Park be used to accommodate 200 students for this purpose. The pro- posal has been submitted as a pilot scheme from which it is hoped a great deal will be learned about the needs in this matter and the administration of such facilities. The proposal is still under consideration by Government. Furthermore, this Council will be aware that proposals have been submitted for considerable expansion of the public library service within which it will be possible further to assist students to find suitable study conditions.