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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

CHAIRMAN:-That is correct, and the message was passed on to the Secretariat, by us.

MR. SALES: Is it not also true that they told the Secretariat that they thought that 50,000 was the least accommodation and, preferably, it should be 60,000?

CHAIRMAN:-That is correct.

MR. SALES: Thank you. Then do you tell this Council that the Colonial Secretariat completely set aside the opinion of the people best qualified to advise them on this matter for a paltry sum of $21 million?

CHAIRMAN: Next question, please.

MR. SALES: You haven't answered my supplementary.

CHAIRMAN:-I rule it out of order, Mr. SALES.

MR. SALES: Well, would you like to record it that you are not in

a position to answer, or that you are unwilling to answer?

CHAIRMAN: --I do not wish to answer.

MR. SALES: -You do not wish to answer.

Thank you.

(9) MR. A. de O. SALES asked the following question:

Will the Chairman please make a progress report on the indoor

stadium at Hung Hom?

THE CHAIRMAN, URBAN COUNCIL, replied as follows:-

Members of the Recreation and Amenities Select Committee will recall that the design of the Indoor Stadium was discussed at considerable length, in the presence of the architect concerned, as recently as 19th February, when the discussion centred on an oval or circular design as opposed to a cruciform one.

On receipt of the minutes of this meeting, the Colonial Secretariat wrote to the Director of Public Works last month asking how much cheaper a design in accordance with the minutes of the meeting would be, and whether it could be built on the presently intended podium without more than a short delay. A reply has just been received from the Director asking for confirmation of certain requirements. This matter has therefore again been referred to the Recreation and Amenities Select Committee.

HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

MR. SALES: Is this project in Category B?

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CHAIRMAN:-I can't remember off-hand. Perhaps the Director of Public Works can help. (The Director of Public Works indicated confirmation). The Director of Public Works confirms that it is in Category B.

MR. SALES: Sir, may I assure you that it is in Category B.

CHAIRMAN:-Then, why ask the question, Mr. SALES?

MR. SALES: Because I want to establish that it has been in category B for a long time, and it is about time that it moved up to category A. Mr. Chairman, is it not a fact that the Select Committee endorsed the cruciform design for the indoor stadium?

CHAIRMAN:-They did.

MR. SALES: Is that not, in point of fact, the original decision of the Select Committee?

CHAIRMAN:That is correct.

MR. SALES: --Then why has this matter been delayed in such a protracted manner, that it should be sent from pillar to post, as it were, in order that the project might be set back further?

CHAIRMAN:-Merely in an attempt to get the right building and the right sort of facilities provided in the best possible way. There was no question of trying to delay it in any sense except to get the best result for you.

MR. SALES: Well, Mr. Chairman, is it not a fact that I gave a rather sizeable collection of books showing all the latest information available in the world on the construction of indoor and other stadia?

CHAIRMAN:-That is true, Mr. SALES.

MR. SALES--Then the Select Committee, having decided on the form after great deliberation, why should it be put back to the Select Committee, in point of fact twice, if not three times?

CHAIRMAN:-They arose out of the minutes of the meeting, and the Secretariat were merely trying to be helpful.

MR. SALES: --Mr. Chairman, may I suggest as a final supplementary that you consider the Secretariat was not helpful, the Secretariat was just dilly-dallying on a very important project for the people of Hong Kong?

CHAIRMAN:-I cannot accept that, Mr. SALES,

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