HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL · 2nd October 1969.
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year that there was little hope of an early introduction of social insurance. However, the spate of wage disputes that we have wit- nessed in the past few months has pointed to the need for rethinking on the vital question of social insurance. While I agree that in Hong Kong's circumstances, the time may not be ripe for the type of social insurance in force in the developed countries but a limited insurance scheme whereby workers are protected against unpaid wages and against non-payment of compensation in cases of injury or death caused by accidents would appear to be justified. The insurance scheme that I have in mind would involve the introduction of suitable legislation to require employers to take out insurance at their own expense to protect workers against unpaid wages and non-payment of compensation in cases of injury or death. For the scheme to be within the means of the employer, it is necessary that Government assume the role of the underwriter and charge an economic rate. This scheme would not involve public revenue and I suggest that Government operate this insurance scheme as a non-profit making venture. In short I strongly feel that insurance is about the best way to tackle this problem.
Very encouraging signs have emerged in recent months to indicate that the building industry is once again heading towards a boom. These include the keen bidding at Crown land auctions, the increasing number of building plans submitted for approval and the renewed activity on building sites which have seen virtually no activity for several years.
Such building activity and the accompanying rise in land prices are likely to bring to the forefront again the long nagging dissatisfaction over the space demanded by the electricity companies as a precondition for the supply of power.
In the past, electricity companies have been most arbitrary and dictatorial in determining which developer should be required to give up space and which developer should be graciously granted dispensation from that condition. For those unfortunate enough to find themselves outside the good grace of the electricity companies, they will have to give up valuable ground floor space in commercial buildings to house transformers. In the case of domestic buildings or sites, what has to be given up is likely determined by the con- venience of the electricity supplier rather than the convenience of the developer.
In many other countries, electricity companies requiring space for their transformers pay some kind of compensation or rental. In Hong Kong they do not pay a single cent. And to add insult to injury, it is sometimes the case that a developer finds that most of the electricity supplied through the transformer on the site he has given up is used to supply his neighbours.