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in February next year. These are achievements of which any com- munity can be proud, but so far as I can recollect not a single Unofficial Member gave them any mention.

In the field of housing, which is of particular interest to Members, since January 1st accommodation has been completed to house over 100,000 persons in Resettlement Estates and another 33,000 in Govern- ment Low Cost Housing Estates which will be handed over to the Housing Authority for management. I am grateful to Mr. Li Yiu-bor for his generous reference to the part played by the Public Works Department in this building programme.

areas.

The results of this Council's efforts to improve the provision of parks, recreation grounds and urban amenities throughout Hong Kong and Kowloon are apparent to anyone who drives through the urban Several major parks or recreation areas, including 2 swimming pool complexes, are under construction. A third swimming pool is just about to start. Over 38 Block Vote urban amenity projects were completed during the year by the Public Works Department, and work is going on, either on the site or on the drawing board, for another 60. This has not been achieved without the co-operation and assistance of many Government departments.

Mr. Chairman, the Public Works Department and the Urban Services Department continue to work together on many projects for the benefit of the public, and senior officers of the department serve on several Select Committees with Members of the Council. Looking back over the last six years during which I have been Director of Public Works, I believe that much has been achieved, particularly in the devel- opment of public recreation areas and amenities. But much still needs to be done. I am sure that the good work will continue under my successor. (Applause).

THE DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF MEDICAL AND HEALTH SERVICES:-Mr. Chairman, although an unsympathetic streptococcus prevented me from attending the previous sessions of his debate, I assure my friends on both sides of this table that I have studied their comments thoroughly -in fact, if I might paraphrase, "Absence made the interest keener".

Over the years the tradition has evolved for Members of this Council to be released from the confines of the Urban Council Ordin- ance during this Annual Debate and our Unofficial Colleagues range On the freely over any part they choose of the Hong Kong scene. other hand, custom expects Official Members to appear in a more passive role-replying to criticisms, commenting on suggestions and even on occasions defending the Council's own policy. Our speeches therefore tend to be somewhat pragmatic and statistical, touching only briefly on each separate subject within the wide variety fired at us, and

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may seem rather repetitive and dull. However, as I find this year the array of medical and health matters is very limited, I propose to take this opportunity to criticize some of the criticism.

Most residents of Hong Kong have, at one time or another, heard of or read about visitors who are prepared to solve our most complex problems at the click of an interviewer's tape-recorder: I do not need to comment further on such observations. But in this community the pace of development and construction is so rapid that there is a strong temptation for residents to also indulge in such "flash diagnosis" and "instant cure", either by extrapolating from the particular to the general or by the snap proposing of a major scheme, incapable of implementation in less than four years, to remedy a problem upon which interest is focussed temporarily. From the public pronounce- ment of such profundities it is but a short step to the levelling of vague or ill-founded criticism. For example, as a result of an application by a certain organization to raise funds through the management of a private cemetery, my colleague the Director of Social Welfare was taken to task in such manner as to imply that he could not or would not provide financial assistance. I suppose, Mr. Chairman, that such implication must be accepted as literally correct, for Government assistance to this organization is channelled through the Medical and Health Department and is based on the recommendations from the Medical Development Plan Standing Committee. Such assistance has increased more than seven-fold during the past four years, from $100,000 in the financial year 1965-66 to over $700,000 in the current one. I will not comment on the application itself, but would point out that the present basis for subvention, namely two-thirds of the organization's recurrent expendi- ture, is also applied to certain medical institutions maintained by other voluntary agencies who provide the remainder of their income by fund- raising through more conventional, albeit more exacting, channels.

I would recall to members' notice the remarks on private ceme- teries made by Mr. P. F. CHAN which were based on his personal experiences in their management. Although there is some evidence that people are prepared to pay a good deal more than the fixed price for selected burial plots in private cemeteries, I do not think it would be true to say that profiteering by sale of grave plots in private ceme- teries is widespread. However, I will certainly suggest to the Ceme- teries Select Committee that they examine Mr. CHAN's practical sugges- tions for trying to keep down the cost of burial plots in private cemeteries.

During recent weeks we have been told that Hong Kong is becoming economically a so-called "advanced" country. This status has already been achieved in the sphere of general health as measured by indices, such as life expectancy or infant mortality, which afford a basis for direct comparison, and any further comments by me would be super-