I THANK S C Leung for his reply (South China Morning Post, August 18) to my letter regarding the disappearance of trails from the recent Countryside Map series.
There are, however, a number of issues that should be raised.
The previous series of maps graded the trails into 10 useful categories, the new series reduces the categories to seven: less information for more money.
The decision to only include maintained trails has insidious overtones. Showing fewer trails will reduce the interest of the country parks to hikers and reduce their number, leading to reduced budgets for maintenance and even less trails. Maybe this is the plan, to slowly eliminate the country parks and continue their current erosion for commercial development? Omitting trails has serious safety implications. Hikers caught out by bad weather or nightfall need to know where their escape routes are. Using the Hong Kong Trail from Aberdeen Reservoir Road to Peel Rise as an example, this trail has three short exits to paved paths, the new series of maps only shows one.
I was taught in geography that maps are an accurate depiction of what exists on the ground, anything else is censorship, for whatever reason.
STUART SMITH Wan Chai
