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I must stress that it is this development of the Urban Council Public Library service that is of prime concern to the Library Select Committee.

If however this Council wishes to enlarge the powers of the Library Select Committee to enter into discussion with the Resettlement Department with a view to obtaining space in each resettlement estate for study purpose, I shall then be prepared to raise the matter at a future Library Select Committee meeting.

As to the second part of the question which asks whether the Urban Council Library Service could supply suitable reading material for such reading/study rooms, experience obtained from the operation of the two study rooms in the Urban Council Public Libraries induced the Library Select Committee to assume that the provision of reading materials is not essential in these study rooms because they are primarily places to which the users wish to bring their own study books. However, whether this provision is necessary in independent study rooms where there is no adjacent library would be one of the factors to be assessed after experience in operating the proposed “pilot" scheme in the Kowloon (Whitfield) Park.

MR. CHEONG-LEEN:- Can the Chairman of the Library Select Committee advise, Mr. Chairman, whether it is desirable to investigate reading space in Resettlement Estates for study purposes?

MRS. ELLIOTT:- Mr. Chairman, it is my own opinion, I have not discussed it with the Select Committee, that we first of all need to assess whether the existing facilities are being fully used, and if they are not, then we could discuss it with the Resettlement Department.

MR. BERNACCHI :- Mr. Chairman, where are the 5 welfare buildings situated that will be opened this or next year?

COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:- I am afraid I cannot say off-hand, Mr. Chairman.

MR. BERNACCHI:- From the fact that the answer was given by the Commissioner for Resettlement, presumably the 5 new welfare buildings are situated in resettlement estates?

MR. SALES: - Mr. Chairman, may I put the question for Mr. BERNACCHI, Will one of these buildings be located in Chai Wan? (Laughter).

DR. BELL: Mr. Chairman, could I say that I know for certainty, I should have thought that Mr. ASERAPPA did, that one of them is going to be in the Sau Mau Ping Estate. I think it is going to be the first one. We were taken there to see the site sometime ago when Mr. Alastair TODD was the Director of Social Welfare.

MR. BERNACCHI:- Presumably also they will be in relatively outlying new Resettlement Estates. Do any plans exist for welfare buildings to be erected in conjunction with the slum clearance proposals?

CHAIRMAN:- I must rule that one out of order, Mr. BERNACCHI. This is rather straying a bit too far to accept.

MRS. ELLIOTT:-- Mr. Chairman, concerning the first welfare building, it is in the Ham Tin Estate.

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

As the Education Department has recently stated that there are 20,000 free places available in Government and aided primary schools, together with the availability of grants based on $20 a year, to each student given a free place for the purchase of text books and exercise books, can the Resettlement Department seek the co-operation of all Kaifong Associations in Resettlement Estates to carry out a survey to those families whose children of primary school age are not in school, and to give whatever assistance is possible to send their children to school? In the case where families due to economic circumstances, are unable to send their children to primary school, will the Commissioner for Resettlement be prepared to refer such families to the Social Welfare Department or to any of the nine or ten established voluntary agencies who have been providing monthly family education allowances?

MR. LI YIU-BOR, CHAIRMAN OF THE RESETTLEMENT MANAGEMENT SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows:

Mr. Chairman, following a previous question by Mr. CHEONG-LEEN at the August meeting of the Council, a survey of children not attending school at Lo Fu Ngam Estate was recently completed, with the aid of the local Kaifong. A similar survey is now being carried out in Wang Tau Hom Estate, again with the aid of the local Kaifong. The results of these surveys will be evaluated in consultation with the Director of Education and the Director of Social Welfare.

Any families that appear from these surveys to be in need of assistance are being referred to the Social Welfare Department.

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