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District Boards assisting the various district organizations catering localized community needs, the Hong Kong Arts Festival offering a month's concen- trated series of events of top international standing, and the Festival Fringe providing a platform for free artistic expression without regard to conventional standards.

I now have to accept that Hong Kong is not yet ready for this neat division of responsibilities in the arts. Without adequate resources enabling each organization to realize their potentials fully and without a viable base for developing a full range of artistic activities at a true professional level, a great deal of overlapping and competition is unavoidable. Coordination amongst these authorities and organizations in activity programme planning and in the provision of support to the performing arts, is therefore, essential.

I abhor any prospect of the cultural life of a city of over 5 million people being dictated by one mode of thinking. I am certainly not advocating the reliance on one single authority to determine the direction in which the arts should develop in Hong Kong. I envisage coordination involving the concerned organizations themselves in a spirit of true cooperation without intruding into each other's autonomy. If this can be done, I am sure a better over-all cultural programme will emerge and better use of the limited available resources will be achieved.

Mr. Chairman, I support your motion.

MR. FAN KAM-PING (in Cantonese):-

Defining the Demarcation of Funding Responsibilities on Sports and Recreational Activities

Local athletes had excellent performance in both the Commonwealth and the Asian Games of this year. The first gold medal obtained in the Asian Games sparks off enthusiastic public discussions on sports promotion and training of talented athletes by the government. In fact, the Council has undertaken the responsibility of sports promotion since 1968. It became our statutory duties to promote both sports and recreational activities when we gained financial independence in 1973. Ever since its formation in 1973, the Council for Recreation and Sports has been cooperating with the Council in promoting recreational activities in the territory. However, because of some grey areas in the work of both Councils in recent years, some sports associations would apply to both of us for subsidy at the same time. This would cause confusion in administration, waste of resources, and embarrass both Councils sometimes. In view of these and also because of the setting up of the Regional Council, the Recreation Committee of the Urban Council started to review its subsidy policy for sports and recreation promotion. A new policy has been worked out to define the funding responsibilities of the Council for Recreation and Sports, the Regional Council and the Urban Council in this respect. After a study and slight amendments, the Regional Council and the Council for Recreation and Sports agreed to the new policy which was put into practice on 1 April 1986.

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The new policy clearly defines the three Councils' responsibilities of subsidizing and promoting sports activities: the Council for Recreation and Sports is responsible for the international events held here and abroad, as well as the training of sporting staffs and athletes representing Hong Kong. The Urban and Regional Councils would deal with the 'non-international' events held in their respective districts, and provide training courses of grass-roots and elementary levels. As to the territory-wide events participated by athletic teams from the Urban and Regional Council areas, it is up to the two Councils to decide on the amount and ratio of subsidy between themselves on the merits of individual applications. According to the new policy, the recently much-discussed training for the talented athletes should be the responsibility of the Council for Recreation and Sports. And, ever since the implementation of the new policy, the Urban Council has also been vigorously promoting a policy on 'populari- zation of sports'. The learn-to-swim courses of this year, for instance, have increased from last year's 560 to 900. More district competitions have also been organized on soccer, basket ball, tennis, badminton and ping-pong. Outstand- ing athletes of the districts may compete for the honour of overall champion- ship. With a sharp increase in the participants of sports activities and with the policy of more district competitions, it is much easier for the parties concerned to choose athletes with potential for training as Hong Kong's national players. The clear demarcation of the three Councils' functions in sports promotion makes the much-concerned problem of coordination simple and manageable, thus enabling sports promotion to be carried out in a more efficient and cost- effective way, and to reach more people.

Urban Services Facilities-A Symbol of Close Cooperation Between the Urban Council and the Districts

Of our capital works programmes of this (86/87) and next (87/88) financial years, an estimate of $100 million will be spent on the construction of recreational and sports venues and facilities each year. The sports facilities include the Cheung Sha Wan Sports Ground, the Hammer Hill Road Sports Ground, the Chai Wan Indoor Games Hall, the Fat Kwong Street Indoor Games Hall and a number of existing facilities in need of improvement, for examples, repaving of the all-weather athletic tracks of the Wan Chai Sports Ground and the $14 million project to fully improve the Kowloon Tsai Park Sports Ground. These are done to provide the best sports venues for public use. While putting up sports facilities, the Council also concerns about the relatively low rate of usage of some venues during daytime on weekdays when the general public go to office or school. Mainly designed for use of the district residents, the facilities must integrate closely with the districts to function to its full and promote related sports efficiently. Up to September 1986, the Urban Services Department managed with great efforts to form seven venue-based tennis clubs. These include four in Kowloon West, three in Kowloon East, and two to be set up soon on Hong Kong Island. Also, the first life-saving club with UC swimming complex as base was formed by a local sports associations on