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MR. SALES: -Mr. Chairman, I would like to thank Mr. CHEONG-LEEN for his assurance on both counts.
MR. WU: Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to read from the second page of Mr. CHEONG-LEEN's reply which says, "Therefore, our long-term aim should be to have a co-ordinated policy to encourage as many as possible of able-bodied hawkers, legal or illegal, to enter industry, where there is a serious shortage of industrial workers." Then he said: "Towards this end, we will have to rely upon the full and continuous support of other Government departments, particularly the Labour Department and the Social Welfare Department." Now, I can understand the Labour Department which is responsible for training and for labour exchange making better use of manpower and all that, but as for the Social Welfare Department, I would have thought that if more people get jobs in industry there would be less work for the Social Welfare Department.
CHAIRMAN: —Are you asking a supplementary, Mr. Wu?
MR. WU—I don't really know what I am doing (Laughter) as I don't know my Standing Orders, but I want to bring out one point, and that is that I feel that the Education Department should be more concerned rather than the Social Welfare Department, in that I believe it is the job of the Education Department to prepare our youth for employment in industry and I believe that the Education Department should not have been left out in Mr. Hilton CHEONG-LEEN's reply.
MR. BERNACCHI:—Perhaps, Mr. Chairman, the matter can be referred to the Education Department?
CHAIRMAN: It will be done.
MR. SALES: Mr. Chairman, why is the Director of Education not a member of this Council to answer such questions for himself? (Laughter).
(6) MR. D. J. R. BLAKER asked the following question:
(a) How long is it since the Government revealed its present intention to make premises available for a separate full-scale museum?
(b) What sites does the Government have in mind at present for this purpose?
(c) How long would it take before such sites could be developed into a museum building ready for use?
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MR. WILSON T. S. WANG, CHAIRMAN OF THE MUSEUM AND ART GALLERY SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows:-
I am afraid there is nothing of substance that I can report in reply to the three questions raised by Mr. BLAKER apart from saying that up till now Government has not revealed any intention to provide a separate full-scale Museum.
The museum and art gallery now occupies about 12,000 sq. ft. and an expansion of the space provided to about 40,000 sq. ft. is regarded by Government as the maximum figure for planning purposes which is likely to be acceptable as a charge on public funds.
Members of this Council will recall that as a result of the Report on Museum and Art Gallery Services prepared by the Museum and Art Gallery Select Committee in March 1966, Government asked the Select Committee to consider the New Rodney Block as a possible museum and art gallery. However, in view of the high capital cost for conversion of the New Rodney Block, its inconvenient location and its inherent unsuitability for the purpose, the Select Committee informed Government in January this year that an entirely new building would be preferable.
As far as I know the Public Works Department is now actively studying the feasibility of providing a new block within the City Hall complex and that if this feasibility study shows it to be practicable both from the architectural and engineering points of view, the scheme will be placed before this Council for consideration prior to any recommendation being made to the Secretariat.
Speaking for myself, I would hope that this scheme would prove to be practicable. The site at the City Hall would be available immediately if it were decided that an additional block should be built there. This would mean at least that we might have this urgently needed additional space for the museum much earlier than one expects.
MR. BLAKER: ---Mr. Chairman, I feel that a museum to be effective as a museum, as every single museum I have ever seen has been, must be a detached free-standing block. I think as long as it remains a few floors in a building devoted to other purposes it will not stand in the public image with an identity of its own. Could I ask Mr. WANG whether the contemplated block in the City Hall area is in fact a detached free-standing block and not merely a bit of a car park or a bit of some other building?
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MR. SALES: -Mr. Chairman, I would like to thank Mr. CHEONG- LEEN for his assurance on both counts.
MR. WU: Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to read from the second page of Mr. CHEONG-LEEN's reply which says, "Therefore, our long- term aim should be to have a co-ordinated policy to encourage as many as possible of able-bodied hawkers, legal or illegal, to enter industry, where there is a serious shortage of industrial workers." Then he said: "Towards this end, we will have to rely upon the full and continuous support of other Government departments, particularly the Labour Department and the Social Welfare Department." Now, I can understand the Labour Department which is responsible for training and for labour exchange making better use of manpower and all that, but as for the Social Welfare Department, I would have thought that if more people get jobs in industry there would be less work for the Social Welfare Department.
CHAIRMAN: —Are you asking a supplementary, Mr. Wu?
MR. WU-I don't really know what I am doing (Laughter) as I don't know my Standing Orders, but I want to bring out one point, and that is that I feel that the Education Department should be more concerned rather than the Social Welfare Department, in that I believe it is the job of the Education Department to prepare our youth for employment in industry and I believe that the Education Department should not have been left out in Mr. Hilton CHEONG-LEEN's reply.
MR. BERNACCHI:--Perhaps, Mr. Chairman, the matter can be referred to the Education Department?
CHAIRMAN: It will be done.
MR. SALES: Mr. Chairman, why is the Director of Education not a member of this Council to answer such questions for himself? (Laughter).
(6) MR. D. J. R. BLAKER asked the following question:
(a) How long is it since the Government revealed its present intention to make premises available for a separate full- scale museum?
(b) What sites does the Government have in mind at present
for this purpose?
(c) How long would it take before such sites could be
developed into a museum building ready for use?
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177
MR. WILSON T. S. WANG, CHAIRMAN OF THE MUSEUM AND ART GALLERY SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows:-
I am afraid there is nothing of substance that I can report in reply to the three questions raised by Mr. BLAKER apart from saying that up till now Government has not revealed any intention to provide a separate full scale Museum.
The museum and art gallery now occupies about 12,000 sq. ft. and an expansion of the space provided to about 40,000 sq. ft. is regarded by Government as the maximum figure for planning purposes which is likely to be acceptable as a charge on public funds.
Members of this Council will recall that as a result of the Report on Museum and Art Gallery Services prepared by the Museum and Art Gallery Select Committee in March 1966, Government asked the Select Committee to consider the New Rodney Block as a possible museum and art gallery. However, in view of the high capital cost for conversion of the New Rodney Block, its inconvenient location and its inherent unsuitability for the purpose, the Select Committee informed Government in January this year that an entirely new building would be preferable.
As far as I know the Public Works Department is now actively studying the feasibility of providing a new block within the City Hall complex and that if this feasibility study shows it to be practicable both from the architec- tural and engineering points of view, the scheme will be placed before this Council for consideration prior to any recommendation being made to the Secretariat.
Speaking for myself, I would hope that this scheme would prove to be practicable. The site at the City Hall would be available immediately if it were decided that an addi- tional block should be built there. This would mean at least that we might have this urgently needed additional space for the museum much earlier than one expects.
MR. BLAKER: ---Mr. Chairman, I feel that a museum to be effective as a museum, as every single museum I have ever seen has been, must be a detached free-standing block. I think as long as it remains a few floors in a building devoted to other purposes it will not stand in the public image with an identity of its own. Could I ask Mr. WANG whether the contemplated block in the City Hall area is in fact a detached free-standing block and not merely a bit of a car park or a bit of some other building?
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.