1978 — Page 44

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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

get to it. I am sure that the Commissioner of Prisons will see allowing unrestricted access to the beach.

difficulty in

can we

MR CHAM (in Cantonese):-In order to expand the areas of beaches, also build some podiums near the rocks of the beaches for people who go

to swim in the beaches?

MR Lo (in English):-Mr Chairman, the Recreation and Amenities Select Committee will consider plans to enlarge certain areas near rocks to form little platforms on which people can swim and also there will be an experiment this autumn in sanding Repulse Bay. There have been complaints at Repulse Bay about rocks on the beach there. There will be an experiment dumping a big quantity of spoil from the quarry which is rather like sand on to the beach itself and see whether that will improve matters.

MR HOWARD H. W. YOUNG (in English):—As merely gazetting beaches will not necessarily solve the queuing and travelling in hot weather, perhaps more important is the problem of the transport facilities at the gazetted beaches. Although running transport does not come into the ambit of the Council, possibly providing enough space to allow transport to be run efficiently is. Have we explored all possibilities of opening up land in the hinterland of beaches in order to solve some traffic problems?

MR LO (in English):—From time to time, we get applications from the bus companies of the Transport Department for the use of certain areas near beaches for this purpose. Of course, there are always competing claims. We might want to use the same area for a garden or something like that. I should think the Recreation and Amenities Select Committee will consider the whole thing in perspective to see what is the best for the people who go to beaches.

4 MR HOWARD H. W. YOUNG asked the following question (in English):- As the audio-visual display on the Space Museum in the City Hall foyer has been quite popular, will the council consider showing the same display at locations other than City Hall?

MR KIM Y. S. CHAM, VICE-CHAIRMAN OF THE GENERAL ADMINISTRATION SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows (in English):-I would certainly agree that the audio-visual presentation on the Space Museum at the City Hall Foyer has been very successful. It has been attracting an average of 1,600 people a day or a total of over 60,000 people since it opened. Consideration has been given to showing the presentation at other venues but it is not practicable to do so for the time being because of a lack of technical staff to operate the equipment elsewhere. The security of the equipment at other venues is also another problem.

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As Members are aware, the Council has agreed in principle to setting up an audio-visual service as part of the Public Information Unit and we would anticipate that similar presentations will be set up when this service is established. In the meantime, the Space Museum presentation will continue to be shown until about the end of August. It is then the intention to use the equipment to cover the Festival of the Asian Arts and should it be desirable, an up-dated version on the Space Museum could be presented later. MR YOUNG (in English):-Mr Chairman, will the Council consider offering displays of other popular and educational topics by using the same equip- ment at perhaps the same location on a regular basis?

MR CHAM (in English): -I know the Chairman of the Council has put forward the idea to the Urban Services Department to present multi-media displays at strategic points in Hong Kong and Kowloon, but I can assure Mr YOUNG that this Council would consider offering the multi-media displays on other topics when the Audio-Visual Section has been set up.

MR YOUNG (in English):-As for the actual presentation on the Space Museum, will the Council consider lending this to reputable organizations for what one would call private showings.

MR CHAM (in English):—The idea can certainly be put forward to the General Administration Select Committee to consider, if the Council so approves and the meeting considers so appropriate, it can certainly be done.

To

5 MR HILTON CHEONG-LEEN asked the following question (in English): what extent is the Urban Council encouraging and promoting Tai Chi as a non-combative Chinese traditional martial arts exercise for all age groups to improve the health of the community, and what more can be done to improve the standard of Tai Chi in HK?

MR KENNETH T. C. Lo, CHAIRMAN OF THE RECREATION AND AMENITIES SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows (in English):-Between 1974 and 1976, the Urban Council contributed to the promotion of tai chi by allowing free use of Council facilities such as parks and playgrounds for the running of tai chi classes by the Recreation and Sport Service. During the year 1976/77, the Council contributed $33,000 which enabled the Recreation and Sport Service to organize 16 tai chi classes covering all age groups.

In 1977-78, the Council and the Recreation and Sport Service jointly sponsored 72 tai chi classes for about 4,000 people, most of whom were in the 40-60 age group. The Council's financial contribution to this project was $65,000. In 1978-79 the Council will contribute a sum of $80,000 towards the cost of organizing 222 tai chi classes in the urban areas. Thus the Council's