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that many Members of this Council are dissatisfied with past perform- ance and are anxious to chart a new course in their discharge of their statutory responsibilities in this field. It is a worthwhile task in which we must all co-operate, and the Statement of Aims for 1972 will remind us constantly of what we are seeking to achieve.

Mr. Chairman, I support the Motion (Applause).

DIRECTOR OF SOCIAL WELFARE:-Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, I should like to refer to Mrs. SYMONS' proposals that a Youth Department should be formed within this Council, that a small co-ordinating committee in the Secretariat should be developed into a Class 3 Department headed by an experienced and professional Physical Education specialist, and that a new all-Hong Kong Central Council of Physical Recreation shall be formed. I am not entirely certain whether these proposals are complementary or alternative, but it is apparent that Mrs. SYMONS considers that little or nothing is being done in the provi- sion of meaningful activities and recreation for young people and that, to quote her own words, "we have to a dangerously wide extent ignored our best product-our youth".

2. Whilst Mrs. SYMONS' genuine concern in these matters is appreciated, it seems only fair to look first at what is being done; and I should like to describe briefly the size and scope of youth work in Hong Kong, both in order to readjust the picture, and also in order to afford some small recognition of the efforts of the many dedicated men and women, and indeed young people themselves, who are working in this field. I should stress that in referring to youth work, I am referring to activities outside the schools and universities, to activities other than pure physical recreation, and to regular activities outside the special summer programmes.

3. There are 35 major organizations engaged in youth work in Hong Kong. Between them, they provide a wide variety of activities which include youth clubs, interest groups, informal classes, holiday and work camps, youth hostels, award schemes, youth councils, libraries, vocational and pre-vocational training courses, and so on. There are at present 165 centres for children and young people; there are some 70 libraries and reading rooms; there are 27 youth camps and hostels; there are 17 craft centres and vocational training centres; there are in total some 300 centres of one kind or another in the urban area and New Territories. The number of regular participants, or regular members, who make use of these facilities is in the region of 360,000. If one takes into account irregular participants, such as a child who may go to a holiday camp once in the year, then it can be said that these facilities serve between 800,000 to 1,000,000 children and young people during the year.

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4. These activities cost about $14,000,000 a year to run, of which about $7,000,000 a year is provided by the Government. The efforts of most of the organizations concerned are co-ordinated through the Children and Youth Division of the Hong Kong Council of Social Service. Further co-ordination, particularly with regard to the applica- tion of Government subvention, is provided through the Social Welfare Department and the Social Welfare Advisory Committee.

5. The present situation, and the present provision, has not arisen by accident, nor has it required the formation of a Youth Department in this Council or elsewhere. It is the result of many years of careful planning and development, starting from very small beginnings indeed just after the war. Nor is the present situation static. Most organiza- tions concerned are in the process of planned expansion, which in recent years has shown signs of beginning to snowball. There are, however, two main difficulties in the way of such an expansion. One is the difficulty of providing facilities precisely where they are required; there is a shortage of suitable space and buildings in certain districts, and the overall coverage is therefore uneven. The other is the difficulty of providing sufficient trained and experienced personnel to oversee or undertake the activities involved; and this is becoming a very real problem over the whole social welfare field. But, at a guess, I would think it possible that over the next 5 years these facilities may be doubled: it certainly should be the aim.

6. On an entirely separate matter, Mr. John MACKENZIE has pointed out briefly to the desirability of the scales for public assistance being reviewed periodically and special consideration being given to physically handicapped persons; I agree with him on both points.

7. Sir, I have much pleasure in supporting the motion. (Applause).

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS: -Mr. Chairman, it is usual for the speeches of Official Members to be in effect answers to questions raised by the Elected and Appointed Members. In past years my difficulty has been to decide whether I would have time to answer all the points made but this year; probably because, in the greater part of our annual cross-country debate, Members were concentrating on chasing the piece of White Paper; the Public Works Department seems to have come in for less criticizm than usual. I am not so sanguine as to imagine that this is because I may, at last, have convinced Council that it is not too badly served and, as it seems that the days of Officials on this Council are numbered, I hope I will be excused if I do not this time restrict myself to replying simply to Members' questions.