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mahjong schools proliferate, some exist where thick carpets are laid down from wall to wall. Doors open electrically by remote control, interiors are lavish and air-conditioned, and magnificently-uniformed usherettes conduct the gambler to his seat. Such luxury is unknown even in the inner sanctums of the universities. I think our priorities have gone seriously wrong somewhere. If a "boom" in stocks is not matched by a "boom" in schools, you have wealth growing alongside ignorance. If ignorance is encouraged to dissipate what little money it has in gambling, the final eruption of discontent is certain. It is not only wrong, but short-sighted, to paint a picture of a general march towards greener pastures where grazing rights are all too clearly limited. It is simply not true that the "boom" is general. To persist in this illusion, while the most pressing necessities facing the masses are not seen to be affecting the direction of official thought, is to pave the way for disaster. If lightning does not strike twice in the same place, neither does a miracle recur. The recovery from 1967 is dramatic and encouraging, but it would be foolish to suppose that another setback would be followed by a similar recovery. There is evidence all around us of the Government returning to its previous complacency. It is tinkering with the shadow and forgetting the substance. It is spending $8 million in Osaka next year for an external show, and $2 million next month for a Festival in Hong Kong. Gimmicks do not solve problems, though they do sometimes distract attention temporarily. People are asking why Osaka? Why spend $8 million in such a manner, at a time and place where Hong Kong will be overwhelmed by national entities such as the Soviet Union and the United States? Expo '70 is not even a trade fair. No "returns" are possible except in abstract goodwill. What impression can Hong Kong make with its little more than one million US dollars' expenditure, when the Soviet Union will be spending sixty million US dollars? What have we as an attraction to match the Bolshoi Ballet? The Police Band? But even that is not going. How do we describe ourselves? A colony? A state? A republic? A town? A port? As we are going to Osaka independently of Britain, a curious problem of identification will arise.
Regarding the Festival of Hong Kong, Sir, I would like to say I support it. The reason given for it is that the people of the Colony deserve a break from routine, and after 128 years, I think it is about time. But I do not support the notion of having such a festival in December. I cannot endorse the line of reasoning that seeks to effect a clash between it and the exhibition of the Chinese Manufacturers' Association, and then again between it and Christmas. December already provides its own reward in holiday time, and gaiety in that month is more or less inevitable. It occurs without any effort. So, it seems to me more sensible to let December take care of itself, and then to provide a festival for the people of Hong Kong in the leaner months of summer. A festival during the summer vacation I venture to suggest,
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would bring tourists to us at a time in the year when they are unlikely to seek our shores because of the heat. You give them an extra attraction apart from shopping and the beaches, and they will come. And the hotels will be in a position to accommodate them all. The students will be out of school, and will be in a frame of mind to enjoy the amenities provided without the hidden, nagging fear of the pre-Christmas or pre-Chinese New Year examinations which are now worrying them, and which are more than likely to have their depressive effect on the general enjoyment. Also, where are the hotel rooms for Festival tourists next month? The town will be full of buyers coming to the exhibition of the Chinese Manufacturers' Association, and people who may happen to want a room in Nathan Road will be told, on application, that there is no room, and goodwill will be turned into annoyance. I sincerely believe the timing of the Festival is wrong. And I am not alone. A leading Chinese newspaper only the other day gave precisely these reasons in an editorial which was critical, not of the Festival itself, but of the absurdity of placing it in December. The Colony should not move from a famine of civic entertainment to a feast. The social digestion gets upset that way. There should be a balanced dispensation of the crumbs from the Government's table. The Government does not need to be Father Christmas in December. Instead, it should be Santa Claus in July, if it knows anything about public relations.
Mr. Chairman, before I sit down, Sir, permit me to add my voice to the general question of an Ombudsman for Hong Kong. I was privileged as a Kai Fong official to be present at a recent dinner given by the Acting Colonial Secretary in his substantive role as the Secretary for Home Affairs. Mr. HOLMES made a significant contribution that evening to goodwill between the Kai Fong movement and the Government. He gave credit to the Kai Fongs for their work of the last 20 years, and he urged its leaders to mould their approach for the future according to new lines of thought. He told them not to be afraid of change, to tackle new problems boldly, and he said the Government would be behind them, for a partnership was essential in the new decade that is opening up in 1970. These words gave comfort to many people, and Mr. HOLMES was particularly impressive when he said he would be visiting the Kai Fongs in the next few months to study the problems of their districts at source. Already the Deputy Secretary for Home Affairs, Mr. Paul Tsui, has begun to match the deed to the word and has begun this promised programme of visits. If the Secretariat for Home Affairs means by this new development to associate itself closer with the ideals and aspirations of the Kai Fongs, then I think even if the thought has not occurred to Mr. HOLMES and Mr. TSUI—that a system of Ombudsman is in the making, and it is the only system that will work within the political and intellectual context of Hong Kong. In other words, I support the notion that the Kai Fongs should be used
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mahjong schools proliferate, some exist where thick carpets are laid down from wall to wall. Doors open electrically by remote control, interiors are lavish and air-conditioned, and magnificently-uniformed usherettes conduct the gambler to his seat. Such luxury is unknown even in the inner sanctums of the universities. I think our priorities have gone seriously wrong somewhere. If a "boom" in stocks is not matched by a "boom" in schools, you have wealth growing alongside ignorance. If ignorance is encouraged to dissipate what little money it has in gambling, the final eruption of discontent is certain. It is not only wrong, but short-sighted, to paint a picture of a general march towards greener pastures where grazing rights are all too clearly limited. It is simply not true that the "boom" is general. To persist in this illusion, while the most pressing necessities facing the masses are not seen to be affecting the direction of official thought, is to pave the way for disaster. If lightning does not strike twice in the same place, neither does a miracle recur. The recovery from 1967 is dramatic and encouraging, but it would be foolish to suppose that another setback would be followed by a similar recovery. There is evidence all around us of the Government returning to its previous complacency. It is tinkering with the shadow and forgetting the substance. It is spending $8 million in Osaka next year for an external show, and $2 million next month for a Festival in Hong Kong. Gimmicks do not solve problems, though they do sometimes distract attention temporarily. People are asking why Osaka? Why spend $8 million in such a manner, at a time and place where Hong Kong will be overwhelmed by national entities such as the Soviet Union and the United States? Expo '70 is not even a trade fair. No "returns" are possible except in abstract goodwill. What impression can Hong Kong make with its little more than one million US dollars' expenditure, when the Soviet Union will be spending sixty million US dollars? What have we as an attraction to match the Bolshoi Ballet? The Police Band? But even that is not going. How do we describe ourselves? A colony? A state? A republic? A town? A port? As we are going to Osaka independ- ently of Britain, a curious problem of identification will arise.
Regarding the Festival of Hong Kong, Sir, I would like to say I support it. The reason given for it is that the people of the Colony deserve a break from routine, and after 128 years, I think it is about time. But I do not support the notion of having such a festival in December. I cannot endorse the line of reasoning that seeks to effect a clash between it and the exhibition of the Chinese Manufacturers' Association, and then again between it and Christmas. December already provides its own reward in holiday time, and gaiety in that month is more or less inevitable. It occurs without any effort. So, it seems to me more sensible to let December take care of itself, and then to provide a festival for the people of Hong Kong in the leaner months of summer. A festival during the summer vacation I venture to suggest,
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
283
would bring tourists to us at a time in the year when they are unlikely to seek our shores because of the heat. You give them an extra attraction apart from shopping and the beaches, and they will come. And the hotels will be in a position to accommodate them all. The students will be out of school, and will be in a frame of mind to enjoy the amenities provided without the hidden, nagging fear of the pre- Christmas or pre-Chinese New Year examinations which are now worrying them, and which are more than likely to have their depressive effect on the general enjoyment. Also, where are the hotel rooms for Festival tourists next month? The town will be full of buyers coming to the exhibition of the Chinese Manufacturers' Association, and people who may happen to want a room in Nathan Road will be told, on application, that there is no room, and goodwill will be turned into annoyance. I sincerely believe the timing of the Festival is wrong. And I am not alone. A leading Chinese newspaper only the other day gave precisely these reasons in an editorial which was critical, not of the Festival itself, but of the absurdity of placing it in December. The Colony should not move from a famine of civic entertainment to a feast. The social digestion gets upset that way. There should be a balanced dispensation of the crumbs from the Government's table. The Government does not need to be Father Christmas in December. Instead, it should be Santa Claus in July, if it knows anything about public relations.
Mr. Chairman, before I sit down, Sir, permit me to add my voice to the general question of an Ombudsman for Hong Kong. I was privileged as a Kai Fong official to be present at a recent dinner given by the Acting Colonial Secretary in his substantive role as the Secretary for Home Affairs. Mr. HOLMES made a significant contribution that evening to goodwill between the Kai Fong movement and the Govern- ment. He gave credit to the Kai Fongs for their work of the last 20 years, and he urged its leaders to mould their approach for the future according to new lines of thought. He told them not to be afraid of change, to tackle new problems boldly, and he said the Government would be behind them, for a partnership was essential in the new decade that is opening up in 1970. These words gave comfort to many people, and Mr. HOLMES was particularly impressive when he said he would be visiting the Kai Fongs in the next few months to study the problems of their districts at source. Already the Deputy Secretary for Home Affairs, Mr. Paul Tsui, has begun to match the deed to the word and has begun this promised programme of visits. If the Secretariat for Home Affairs means by this new development to associate itself closer with the ideals and aspirations of the Kai Fongs, then I think even if the thought has not occurred to Mr. HOLMES and Mr. TsUI-that a system of Ombudsman is in the making, and it is the only system that will work within the political and intellectual context of Hong Kong. In other words, I support the notion that the Kai Fongs should be used
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