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Аля. Моллау
DIM
for our affairs in the U.K.'
I agree with the Chief Secretary.
Hong Kong should welcome all views whether they are constructive or critical and whether they come from abroad or here as we do need them for our consideration in order to better serve our people. But I hope those who are responsible for our affairs, seeing what
we have already managed to achieve, will take some pride in having Hong Kong under their care because, despite our many problems, we are still able to eam for ourselves among the highest standards of living and per capita income in Asia today. Without being
Select trick.
complacent, we have indeed done so much with so little. It would
therefore be difficult not to accept that the social policies laid down by Your Excellency to improve the "quality of life" and the financial and economic policies formulated by the Financial Secretary to implement them are those best suited to our present and prospective future circumstances, which are really unique to Hong Kong.
If our
critics feel otherwise, then the more frequent exchange of visits between London and Hong Kong which Your Excellency initiated should contribute towards reconciling any differences in views. On behalf of the Unofficials here I wish to particularly welcome the two senior officials from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office who are
& M. Shehere recently to acquaint themselves with our up-to-date situation
at first hand. We still face many problems in housing and educating
our people and in providing them with welfare and other social
services. We would like more people to know our problems, what we
have done, what we are doing and what we plan to do to solve them.
Their advice will be welcomed.
4/4.
Since time immemorial mankind has been looking for a
perfect society. The ideal of a UTOPIA seems to exist so far only
in literature. The next best thing that statemen around the world
have been chasing after is a society as near perfection as reality
permits. In doing so, governments of all shades the world over
have been hard put to find a panacea for problems that keep cropping
up in society. Often solutions can only be found by striking a
balance between realism and idealism. Hong Kong, I believe, has so
far been able to strike the right balance. We must agree with the
Financial Secretary when he once said that one of the objectives of
budgetary policy is to minimize any adverse effects of public expenditure and of the fiscal system on the internal cost/price
structure of the economy, on private investment decisions and on
monetary environment.
Sir, I would now like to comment on the proposed tax
concessions on personal allowances. When the Third Inland Revenue
Ordinance Review Committee met last year it received quite a number
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