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to build anything until we are given the land and have the architectural and other technical resources, so let the calculation of this grant be based upon the real prices the Council will have to pay for the construc. tion work when we actually put the work in hand. To prove my point, Mr. Chairman, the Morse Park complex built in 1970 cost $4.5 million; the smaller Kennedy Town complex now under construction is currently estimated at $8 million but will certainly cost more by the time it is finished in 1974. In other words, costs will have doubled in some four years.

Secondly, apart from swimming pools, there are other recreation items in the Public Works Programme, numbering 25 in Category B. including such major projects as the development of the Cricket Club site; the football stadium at Ho Man Tin; the Causeway Bay Sports Centre and Velodrome; the further development of Kowloon Park. Many of these projects were gathering dust in Government files for years even before getting into the Public Works Programme where they may also have been lying about for some time. The Council cannot be blamed for Government's tardiness; so it is my view that the Central Government ought to complete and pay for all outstanding Public Works Programme items, not just those in Categories A, D and E as the White Paper proposes.

Next, Sir I would like to take up the case of the Urban Amenities Block Vote. No mention was made of this important item in the White Paper. It is certainly because of this subhead of expenditure that it has been possible to provide the vast majority of our play. grounds for public use. But, like the Public Works Programme, it moves along too slowly altogether. I am told the rate of progress is governed largely by the lack of staffing resources in the Public Works Department and the release of land. The point, however, is that the absence of these resources is not the doing of this Council. The Block Vote programme also has a very long list of outstanding items; indeed, there are some 70 projects all told. Some of these will be tackled during the course of this financial year. Clearly the Public Works Department resources will not enable us to start off with a clean slate next April. Again, I urge the Government to ensure that allowance is made for all of these outstanding items when it calculates the once- for-all grant mentioned in paragraph 24 of the White Paper as the Standing Committee of the Council as a Whole has resolved that the Government should do.

For this and other pressing reasons, we must now meet with those representatives of the Government who are planning our future. These meetings must take place immediately if we are to be given a fair crack of the whip. It may suit the Government's book to keep us in the dark perhaps, as some think, in the hope that we would make

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during the first year of our financial independence. Should this happen, the public would suffer in consequence. It is certainly not The purpose I am raising this the Council's wish that it should be so. issue in public today is to emphasize that we need to know what is being planned, not just when the Government has the matter nicely cut and dried to suit its own book but before, so that we can fulfil our part in planning for this important future change. After all, we are accountable to the public in the years to come.

I trust, Mr. Chairman, that you will bring these matters to the attention of the Colonial Secretary immediately. I ask the Government to accept an open-ended commitment for the payment of the eventual cost of all the capital projects Hong Kong is now without but badly needs. In any case, the Government would have been called upon to provide them by weight of public opinion if the initiative is lacking. Not only am I thinking of the hundred-odd pending schemes for recreation but also, with my colleagues' permission, the many projects we all have in mind for the betterment of living conditions here, for one, the cultural centre in Kowloon. (Applause).

MR. HILTON CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, I wish to make a progress report on matters concerning Council's hawker policy.

The drafting of the new Hawker By-laws is now complete; the By-laws should be enacted within the coming months. This new legisla- tion will enable hawkers to know where, when and how they may carry on their trade, and make for better control all round.

Manpower and resources of the ten Hawker Liaison Units will be increased substantially and the Department will be stepping up its efforts to tidy up the so-called hawker black spots. Emphasis will be laid on the removal of hugh accumulations of trade refuse and junk with a view to improving environmental health and the quality of life of the residents.

In principle, the Urban Council seeks a gradual reduction in the number of hawkers, particularly unlicensed hawkers. Able-bodied per- sons should seek employment in industry and industrialists should make it attractive for them to do so. Aged or disabled persons are more appropriately looked after by a flexible and practical application of the Public Assistance Scheme. The hawker population ought to be stablized and through effective control, hawking by newcomers must be stopped. The need to consider the livelihood of long-established hawkers has to be recognized; these people must be protected and found sites so that they can trade legitimately.

The ultimate aim is to site licensed hawkers off streets into markets and shopping bazaars. However, the Urban Council has an extremely