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and meet every demand: particularly if it is sufficiently vehemently expressed (this too, after all, is a public attitude which is growing in most places). Anyone whose view is not accepted, particularly if his pocket is affected, tends to join the ranks of the critical, without wondering whether he might not be wrong and Government right.
7.
Finally, the years 1967-9 meant the deferment of a number of difficult problems, such as the hawkers, which must now be tackled; and also led to the appearance of new problems giving rise to complaints such as the increase in violent crime, rents rising sharply from the low levels of 1965-69, rising costs and wage levels, and traffic congestion, most in fact originating in very rapid recovery from the uncertainties of the period or rising affluence. These we are in process of dealing with as sensibly as we can, but the occasional mistiming or unfortunate coincidence of events must be admitted to have flawed our record recently now and again. With the best will in the world, a machine the size this Government has now reached does not always operate as smoothly as one would wish.
into
A
8.
In this and similar ways Hong Kong will always tend to build up to periods of incipient emotion, when a casus belli of any sort (a paper flag or ad fare increase) easily leads to a cathartic eruption of some kind. We look to be possibly entering such a period now. Hong Kong's virtue however is that commonsense and the very considerable fund of basic goodwill and support (even if it is based largely on stronger objections to something different) which Government in fact has under the surface, comes fairly quickly into play to help redress the situation. For though we may accrete critics who are vocal, we also quietly make friends who are not trouble arises.
9.
until
Against this background, came the increases in water charges, made urgently necessary by the deficit in the water account over the past 5 years, when
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