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may help to relieve the situation. In fact, Hawkers Bazaars, modern markets and car parks may be grouped together in one building in future designs, as hawkers and cars are the biggest group of road-surface occupiers. Modern multi-purpose buildings, as just suggested, may help to relieve traffic congestion as well as offer convenience to shoppers.
On Recreation and Amenity side, in high density-population areas with heavy traffic, more small sites should be made available for growing colorful shrubs. With regard to sports, as a city with a population of near 5 million, it is a pity that there is not one Badminton court suitable for international matches. It may be pointed out that Badminton is becoming fastly popular among this part of the world. Also, a plan to have 20 public swimming pools is really too conservative. At the moment, there are only thirteen swimming pools. The population is growing fast and the over-crowdedness in pools is an urgent problem in Summer time. It may be revealed that in Yau Ma Tei and Tsim Sha Tsui districts, there is not one single swimming pool.
Finally, the Urban Council, as all people know, has no jurisdiction over vital problems like education, traffic, health and worst still housing. It is my wish that our ward system, the only place where Councillors can meet the citizens, should be augmented and given greater appropriate power, as we at the ward offices are dealing with complaints mainly of the above-mentioned vital nature.
Mr. Chairman, I second your 1975 motion, Thank you. (Applause).
(Mr. Kenneth T. C. LO left at this point.)
MR. F. K. HU (in English):-Mr. Chairman, human circumstances require a continuous investigation of ways and means to improve the quality of life of the masses concerned. The leisure of most people in the last few years has increased in an extraordinary way. The acceleration of this evolution is such that we have to investigate thoroughly whether adjustment has been made to adapt to this changing situation and to achieve a balanced equilibrium between work and study on one hand and leisure on the other hand. In the East, as in the West, the same concerns exist to use leisure time for the promotion of an art of living and a humanism accessible not to a privileged minority but to all people. Physical culture and sports are greatly appreciated as means of organizing leisure because they improve one's health, maintain and perfect one's physical capacity and also because their practice brings happiness and gaiety, experiences shared in common and the feeling of having achieved or of aiming to achieve a certain performance.
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brings happiness and gaiety, experiences shared in common and the feeling of having achieved or of aiming to achieve a certain performance. This is essentially true both for young and old, men and women. Therefore, it is important to give more planning, time and money to leisure time sport. Leisure and leisure activities are considered as a matter of public interest for which the Government has to bear a responsibility. This is a question of the use of available leisure time in the form of extremely varied activities and of meeting the necessary requirements with regard to equipment, premises and organization. It is an attempt to organize the time in a meaningful way.
Government should take positive action to carry out the Ho Man Tin stadium, Hung Hom indoor stadium, Morrison Hill Stadium, Causeway Bay Velodrome and training centre and swimming pool complex projects without further delay. Top priority must be given to these projects which are already long overdue. Government should also openly encourage sports organizations and community-minded private enterprises to participate actively in the provision of recreational facilities, such as indoor swimming pools, multi-purpose local recreation centres which can be managed by this Council for the benefit of the general public. Government should consider concession in the lease conditions in order to allow interested private enterprises to get reasonable return from their contribution to the public needs. More open spaces should be allocated to this Council in support of its vigorous pursuit of providing more and better recreational facilities in the urban area. If for any reason, the Government cannot proceed with the Velodrome project within a reasonable period but will firmly confirm the commitment, this Council should take over the site reserved for the Velodrome to be developed as an extension to the heavily used and popular Victoria Park. This Council should continue to study the possibility of providing different types of recreational facilities to meet the varying needs of the public. One way to ensure maximum usage of new swimming pool complex is to design the main pool in such a way that it can be converted into an ice skating rink in winter. The popularity of ice skating has been increasing in other Far Eastern countries and could easily draw attendance up to 3,000 and 5,000 persons per day on weekdays and weekends respectively. Furthermore, there is the possibility of utilizing heat dissipated from the chilling units to provide sufficient heat for a nearby heated swimming pool.
For too long, sport has suffered from neglect. Sport has been left mainly in the hands of sports organizations managed by enthusiastic individuals and volunteers who spend not only a lot of their valuable time in managing the sports affairs for the public but also have to find
268
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may help to relieve the situation. In fact, Hawkers Bazaars, modern markets and car parks may be grouped together in one building in future designs, as hawkers and cars are the biggest group of road- surface occupiers. Modern multi-purpose buildings, as just suggested, may help to relieve traffic congesting as well as offer convenience to shoppers.
On Recreation and Amenity side, in high density-population areas with heavy traffic, more small sites should be made available for grow- ing colorful shrubs. With regard to sports, as a city with a population of near 5 million, it is a pity that there is not one Badminton court suitable for international matches. It may be pointed out that Bad- minton is becoming fastly popular among this part of the world. Also, a plan to have 20 public swimming pools is really too conserva- tive. At the moment, there are only thirteen swimming pools. The population is growing fast and the over-crowdedness in pools is an urgent problem in Summer time. It may be revealed that in Yau Ma Tei and Tsim Sha Tsui districts, there is not one single swimming pool.
Finally, the Urban Council, as all people know, has no jurisdiction over vital problems like education, traffic, health and worst still housing. It is my wish that our ward system, the only place where Councillors can meet the citizens, should be augmented and given greater appropriate power, as we at the ward offices are dealing with complaints mainly of the above-mentioned vital nature.
Mr. Chairman, I second your 1975 motion, Thank you. (Ap- plause).
(Mr. Kenneth T. C. LO left at this point.)
MR. F. K. HU (in English):-Mr. Chairman, human circumstances require a continuous investigation of ways and means to improve the quality of life of the masses concerned. The leisure of most people in the last few years has increased in an extraordinary way. The accelera- tion of this evolution is such that we have to investigate thoroughly whether adjustment has been made to adapt to this changing situation and to achieve a balanced equilibrium between work and study on one hand and leisure on the other hand. In the East, as in the West, the same concerns exist to use leisure time for the promotion of an art of living and a humanism accessible not to a privileged minority but to all people. Physical culture and sports are greatly appreciated as means of organizing leisure because they improve one's health, main- tain and perfect one's physical capacity and also because their practice
ance.
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brings happiness and gaity, experiences shared in common and the feeling of having achieved or of aiming to achieve a certain perform- This is essentially true both for young and old, men and women. Therefore, it is important to give more planning, time and money to leisure time sport. Leisure and leisure activities are considered as a matter of public interest for which the Government has to bear a responsibility. This is a question of the use of available leisure time in the form of extremely varied activities and of meeting the necessary requirements with regard to equipment, premises and organization. It is an attempt to organize the time in a meaningful way.
Government should take positive action to carry out the Ho Man Tin stadium, Hung Hom indoor stadium, Morrison Hill Stadium, Causeway Bay Velodrome and training centre and swimming pool com- plex projects without further delay. Top priority must be given to these projects which are already long overdue. Government should also openly encourage sports organizations and community minded private enterprises to participate actively in the provision of recrea- tional facilities, such as indoor swimming pools, multi-purpose local recreation centres which can be managed by this Council for the benefit of the general public. Government should consider concession in the lease conditions in order to allow interested private enterprises to get reasonable return from their contribution to the public needs. More open spaces should be allocated to this Council in support of its vigor- ous pursuit of providing more and better recreational facilities in the urban area. If for any reason, the Government cannot proceed with the Velodrome project within a reasonable period but will firmly con- firm the commitment, this Council should take over the site reserved for the Velodrome to be developed as an extension to the heavily used and popular Victoria Park. This Council should continue to study the possibility of providing different type of recreational facilities to meet the varying needs of the public. One way to ensure maximum usage of new swimming pool complex is to design the main pool in such The a way that it can be converted into ice skating rink in winter. popularity of ice skating has been increasing in other Far Eastern countries and could easily draw attendance up to 3,000 and 5,000 persons per day on week day and weekend respectively. Furthermore, there is the possibility of utilizing heat dissipated from the chilling units to provide sufficient heat for a nearby heated swimming pool.
For too long, sport has suffered from neglect. Sport has been left mainly in the hands of sports organizations managed by enthusiastic individuals and volunteers who spend not only a lot of their valuable time in managing the sports affairs for the public but also have to find
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