53.
CONCLUSION
155.
And so I come to the end of this review of your Government's
activities and proposals. They encompass continuation of the steady
transformation of Hong Kong. In this aim we must persist if we are to
develop as a technically advanced, valued, and above all, respected
society.
156.
Government activity should provide the framework for an
economic society which should be as free as possible. This of course
assumes that the use of this freedom does not run counter to the
conditions of our survival, namely that as a society we remain cohesive
What is called "the ugly face of capitalism' was
and respected.
notably absent in the recession of 1974/75 and the subsequent recovery,
and this was one of the reasons Hong Kong came through it so well.
Now when the economy as a whole is doing comparatively well, and looks
like continuing to do so, there are signs of this lesson being
forgotten by some. There has been excessive speculation in real estate
and some socially disruptive transactions. It is all very well to
say that in a free economy one must take the rough with the smooth;
but those who take the rough are so seldom those who enjoyed the
smooth. This refers only to a very few. Our economy depends on the
development of sound industry, sound communications, and sound financial
institutions, based on a decently housed society whose elements observe
mutual respect and restraint. So long as the ingenious and admirably
intense economic activity of Hong Kong concentrates on these productive
objectives, I am convinced that other medium and long term factors
are very greatly in our favour.
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