2
-
"The completion of long-term social projects, such as the housing programme, anti-corruption work and various educational and medical development schemes, and the expansion of the existing Legislative Council depends on an experienced leader like Sir Murray," the paper said.
The paper added: "What is more important is that there can be no better candidate than Sir Murray who can maintain friendly relations between Hong Kong and its neighbouring countries in Asia whose political changes have important bearings on Hong Kong.
MEASURES TO IMPROVE
PASSENGER CAR SERVICE
The Acting Secretary for the Environment, Mr. Alan Armstrong-Wright, said in the Legislative Council on July 21 that the Government would issue by tender 100 taxi licences a month for an indefinite period as one of the measures to provide a better passenger car service for the public.
At the same sitting of Legco, Mr. Armstrong- Wright also said "it would be extremely difficult to enforce standard fares" on public light buses.
Hire-car operators held a Press conference on July 25 to protest against another Government measure aimed at phasing out hire cars by 1978.
Meanwhile, taxi operators held a meeting last week to discuss the possibility of a fare rise.
These developments prompted more than 20 editorials in the Chinese Press.
WAH KIU YAT PO (July 22 & 23), WAH KIU MAN PO (July 23) and SING TAO WAN PAO (July 23) supported the Government's decision to issue more taxi licences.
WAH KIU YAT PO said: "This is a reasonable measure because it will not only meet one of our transport needs but will also bring in more revenue for the Government.
"We hope the authorities will implement it quickly for the good of the public.'
99
But the paper suggested the Government should also issue more licences to other forms of public transport to strike a balance in the services provided.
HONG KONG ECONOMIC JOURNAL (July 27) speculated that the issue of more taxi licences marked the start of a series of Government measures to restrict the entry of private cars into urban centres in order to ease traffic congestion.
The paper said that in future the Government might raise the licence fees for private cars to a level higher than that for taxis, and increase parking fees in "restricted urban areas" as well as imposing "curfew hours" on all private cars in these areas except for those with special permits.
The decision to issue more taxi licences would also stimulate competitive bidding among taxi operators, the paper said.
SING TAO WAN PAO said it was "reasonable" to issue more taxi licences to fill the gap when hire cars were phased out at the end of June, 1978.
WAH KIU MAN PO said since the Government had no intention of controlling the illegal operations of hire cars, it would be better to phase them out as quickly as possible.
SING TAO WAN PAO, SING PAO (July 25), WAH KIU YAT PO (July 27) and the Communist papers HONG KONG COMMERCIAL DAILY (July 24) and NEW EVENING POST (July 23) said the Government should give top priority to hire car operators applying for taxi licences. SING PAO said: "Any major reform, including that of public transport, must go through a transitional period, and the authorities should take into account any difficulties that may arise."
The paper in an earlier editorial (July 22) objected to the Government's plan to introduce contract hire permits for car owners who wished to hire out their passenger cars.
"This measure is tantamount to legalising 'pak pais' and boosting their numbers," it said.
"Since it has always been the Government's policy to eliminate 'pak pais,' it would appear that by introducing contract hire permits, the Government is acting against this established policy."
The left-wing TIN FUNG YAT PO (July 27) supported the legalisation of "pak pais," saying it would help ease traffic congestion.