43
Page 97 of 243
174
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
from the point of view of public transport and accessibility to residents from all over Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the New Territories.
Furthermore, we would not have to indulge in heavy and wasteful expenditure of public money by converting an ugly office building into a modern museum and art gallery. It would be far better for Government to allow the Urban Council to temporarily use the Rodney block with minimum renovations until such time as the Cricket Club ground can be made available for public open space and the new museum and art gallery building is constructed upon the site.
I look askance, Mr. Chairman, at the statement in the Advisory Committee Report that the Director of Public Works can find no other suitable alternative site in the urban areas for several years to come for the Hong Kong Cricket Club if it has to remove in 1971.
I would urge the Government in the wider public interest to give a period of three years' notice to the Hong Kong Cricket Club of its decision not to extend the Club's lease when it expires in 1971. At the same time, steps should be taken by the Public Works Department to provide and offer an alternative site so that by 1971 the Hong Kong Cricket Club will have another site available in the urban area.
MR. BLAKER:-Mr. Chairman, I rise to second this motion.
We must all be aware that the need for public open space has increased dramatically, particularly in the postwar years. A hundred years ago our population was a fraction of today's figures, and the smaller Chinese community of those days had, moreover, much less occasion to require space for recreation or leisure. The rise in population alone causes a much greater need for open space at the present time, added to which the Chinese community is making vastly greater use of such space for various purposes.
In the Central District, we have the example of the development of Statue Square which, I think, is now accepted as being very successful and popular. But some further needs remain. We have, in particular, no satisfactory site for a public museum in the centre of our city. In England, there are 900 public museums and art galleries many of them open for a population less than 15 times the size of ours. I do not use this argument to suggest that we should forthwith set up 60 museums, but I do suggest that we should have at least a satisfactory museum in the Central District on the Island, and another in Kowloon.
CHAIRMAN:-Mr. BLAKER, on a point of order also, would you care to direct your speech to the question under discussion, that is, the provision of open space?
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
175
MR. BLAKER:-Mr. Chairman, I do consider that I am directing my speech to the motion in that a museum, of which I've seen many in Europe, can include open space, for example the Rodin in Paris, the Henry Moore in England; I really can't accept that a museum is closed, so if I may continue I will. There can be very little question that the best location for a museum in our city centre would be on the premises now occupied by the Hong Kong Cricket Club, and I suggest that when its lease expires, this site should be allocated for the purpose. The part of the area not occupied by the museum itself should certainly be left open for public use, perhaps as a garden with a typically Chinese flavour, or if the Scottish membership of this Council would prefer then with a Scottish flavour.
This site has been occupied by the Club for some 80 years, at first on a tenancy at will, and latterly on a 10-year recreational lease. If the short-period grant of the recreational lease has any meaning, surely it must be that the use of the site can be re-considered from time to time at the expiry of each period. This has yet to be done in the present instance, with the interests of the community as a whole in mind. Conditions have entirely changed from the time when the Club originally took up its position on the edge of what was then a relatively small village. It is now in the midst of a thriving, bustling city. I hardly think that it is the symbol that the majority of our community would choose today to have as its city centre. The Club itself would surely suffer very little if it were to move to an alternative location, and I have yet to hear arguments of any validity as to why it must essentially remain in its present location.
In common with Mr. CHEONG-LEEN, I question the logic of the recently published Report of the Advisory Committee on private recreational leases. This states that it would have no hesitation in making a strong recommendation for early release of the site, but for the fact that the Statue Square Garden reduced to some extent the urgency for this move. It continues by mentioning as an alternative site, one at Wong Nai Chung Gap which is not expected to be available until 1975. It ignores the fact that land could well be available for such a purpose at the back of Causeway Bay, between the Causeway itself and Tung Lo Wan Road, earlier than that. I suggest that the Report fails to draw the logical conclusion from its own arguments by actually recommending that the Club should move and that the site be made available to the general public.
Mr. Chairman, I cannot help feeling that such a change would be very much in the interests of the community as a whole, and I accordingly second the motion before us.
CHAIRMAN:-The Motion has been moved and seconded, does any Member wish to speak?
Page 97 of 243
176
(empty lines removed and text reflowed as necessary)
becomes simply the edited version as shown above. The final output is in HTML format as requested.43
Page 97 of 243
174
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
from the point of view of public transport and accessibility to residents from all over Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the New Territories.
Furthermore, we would not have to indulge in heavy and wasteful expenditure of public money by converting an ugly office building into a modern museum and art gallery. It would be far better for Govern- ment to allow the Urban Council to temporarily use the Rodney block with minimum renovations until such time as the Cricket Club ground can be made available for public open space and the new museum and art gallery building is constructed upon the site.
I look askance, Mr. Chairman, at the statement in the Advisory Committee Report that the Director of Public Works can find no other suitable alternative site in the urban areas for several years to come for the Hong Kong Cricket Club if it has to remove in 1971.
I would urge the Government in the wider public interest to give a period of three years' notice to the Hong Kong Cricket Club of its decision not to extend the Club's lease when it expires in 1971. At the same time, steps should be taken by the Public Works Department to provide and offer an alternative site so that by 1971 the Hong Kong Cricket Club will have another site available in the urban area.
MR. BLAKER:-Mr. Chairman, I rise to second this motion.
We must all be aware that the need for public open space has increased dramatically, particularly in the postwar years. A hundred years ago our population was a fraction of today's figures, and the smaller Chinese community of those days had, moreover, much less occasion to require space for recreation or leisure. The rise in popula- tion alone causes a much greater need for open space at the present time, added to which the Chinese community is making vastly greater use of such space for various purposes.
In the Central District, we have the example of the development of Statue Square which, I think, is now accepted as being very successful and popular. But some further needs remain. We have, in particular, no satisfactory site for a public museum in the centre of our city. In England, there are 900 public museums and art galleries many of them open for a population less than 15 times the size of ours. I do not use this argument to suggest that we should forthwith set up 60 museums, but I do suggest that we should have at least a satisfactory museum in the Central District on the Island, and another in Kowloon.
CHAIRMAN: -Mr. BLAKER, on a point of order also, would you care to direct your speech to the question under discussion, that is, the provision of open space?
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
175
MR. BLAKER:-Mr. Chairman, I do consider that I am directing my speech to the motion in that a museum, of which I've seen many in Europe, can include open space, for example the Rodin in Paris, the Henry Moore in England; I really can't accept that a museum is closed, so if I may continue I will. There can be very little question that the best location for a museum in our city centre would be on the premises now occupied by the Hong Kong Cricket Club, and I suggest that when its lease expires, this site should be allocated for the purpose. The part of the area not occupied by the museum itself should certainly be left open for public use, perhaps as a garden with a typically Chinese flavour, or if the Scottish membership of this Council would prefer then with a Scottish flavour.
This site has been occupied by the Club for some 80 years, at first on a tenancy at will, and latterly on a 10-year recreational lease. If the short-period grant of the recreational lease has any meaning, surely it must be that the use of the site can be re-considered from time to time at the expiry of each period. This has yet to be done in the present instance, with the interests of the community as a whole in mind. Conditions have entirely changed from the time when the Club origi- nally took up its position on the edge of what was then a relatively small village. It is now in the midst of a thriving, bustling city. I hardly think that it is the symbol that the majority of our community would choose today to have as its city centre. The Club itself would surely suffer very little if it were to move to an alternative location, and I have yet to hear arguments of any validity as to why it must essentially remain in its present location.
In common with Mr. CHEONG-LEEN, I question the logic of the recently published Report of the Advisory Committee on private rec- reational leases. This states that it would have no hesitation in making a strong recommendation for early release of the site, but for the fact that the Statue Square Garden reduced to some extent the urgency for this move. It continues by mentioning as an alternative site, one at Wong Nai Chung Gap which is not expected to be available until 1975. It ignores the fact that land could well be available for such a purpose at the back of Causeway Bay, between the Causeway itself and Tung Lo Wan Road, earlier than that. I suggest that the Report fails to draw the logical conclusion from its own arguments by actually recommending that the Club should move and that the site be made available to the general public.
Mr. Chairman, I cannot help feeling that such a change would be very much in the interests of the community as a whole, and I accord- ingly second the motion before us.
CHAIRMAN:-The Motion has been moved and seconded, does any Member wish to speak?
Page 97 o1 243
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.