ENG-1972 — Page 243

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RECREATION

The corresponding figures for 1971 were 175,450 and 579. At the Lei Cheng Uk Museum, where an admission charge of 30 cents for adults and 10 cents for children is made, the total attendance was 22,866 averaging 74 per opening day. In 1971 the figures were 17,140 and 56 respectively.

Quite apart from, and in addition to, the formal exhibitions organised by the City Museum and Art Gallery, 126 exhibitions were held in the City Hall general exhibition hall and the general exhibition gallery, which are available for hire. These were arranged by various commercial and non-commercial groups and ranged from ex- hibitions of paintings to displays of commercial appliances. Photography is an art form in which Hong Kong residents have gained international recognition, and pho- tographic exhibitions were again among the most interesting of those arranged. During the year, the large general exhibition hall which was originally designed as a ballroom, was considerably modified structurally to make it more effective for the new primary functional purpose that it has developed.

Libraries

The Urban Council public libraries offer free lending, reference and study room facilities to all residents of Hong Kong. There is a comprehensive range of 467,730 volumes in both English and Chinese, 521 current newspapers and periodicals from all over the world, 2,764 reels of microfilm and 1,093 seats in the reading rooms. Of these seats, 282 are provided in the separate students' study room at Kowloon Park, opened late in 1970 as a pilot scheme.

During the year, a new library at the Ping Shek Estate was opened. This brings the number of Urban Council public libraries to five: three on the Kowloon peninsula and two on Hong Kong Island.

The City Hall and Yau Ma Tei libraries, which are the main libraries for each side of the harbour, have comprehensive reference sections in addition to the normal adult lending, junior, newspaper and periodicals sections and students' reading rooms. The branch libraries at Cambridge Court and Ping Shek Estate in Kowloon and at Wah Fu Estate on the southwest of Hong Kong Island concentrate on lending faci- lities for adult and junior readers, but each has a newspaper and periodicals section and a reading room for students.

The libraries continue to be well used and in 10 years since the first library (at the City Hall) was opened, 349,193 people have registered as borrowers. An average of 2,049 books were borrowed and 843 books were consulted each day in the lending and reference libraries. Various extension activities in the form of book exhibitions, children's story-hours, a Christmas card competition and organised school visits have been a regular feature at the libraries and all have proved successful.

The British Council

The British Council continued to make a valuable contribution to educational and cultural activities in Hong Kong during 1972. The cultural events of the year were marked by the visits of Britain's leading Baroque ensemble, the Academy of St Martin- in-the-Fields, and the popular Royal Lyceum Theatre Company of Edinburgh.