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seats on the district boards and Urbco should be scrapped by the next round of elections in 1985/86; by 1988/89 there should be elected Unofficials in Legco. It was becoming increasingly obvious we could no longer rely on others to govern us forever; it was time we as a community grew up and grasped the responsibility of ensuring our survival. Admittedly, if the 5.5 million people of HK were content to let this territory remain as nothing more than a huge marketplace and had no desire to see it evolve further as a real community with a sense of belonging and social dignity, enjoying the fruits of our collective labours stability and prosperity then the Observers' arguments were rendered irrelevant. Power sharing was painful, especially for those who held power. To share power with vision and imaginative thrust was even more difficult perhaps. But it was necessary. elected administration that was strong and stable was the best guarantee we had towards effective autonomy
the preservation of our lifestyle and of the freedoms to which we had become accustomed. The alternative was dictatorship.
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Exxon Corporation: The American company, Exxon Corporation, has decided to expand a major investment in HK, according to the Asian Wall Street Journal on 10 May. The paper quoted a spokesman as saying the company would build two electricity-generating units in addition to the two being constructed at its joint venture in Kowloon at a cost of US$750 million. Exxon owns 60 pc of the station and China Light and Power 40 pc. The Journal said Exxon's decision had been eagerly awaited as a test of business confidence in the "jittery" colony, anxious about its future beyond 1997. An American executive said what this meant was that Exxon (the world's largest corporation) had looked the issue of 1997 squarely in the eye and ignored it. An Exxon spokesman said the decision demonstrated the confidence Exxon and China Light had in the continuing growth of HK. Financing for the power plant by predominantly British and American banks was to extend about 10 years beyond 1997.
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HK will have growing role: The General Manager of the HK Bank told shareholders last Tuesday that, despite the uncertainties engendered by the current discussions on the territory's future, HK would have a growing role as a regional and international service centre in the areas of finance, communications and high technology services. The Bank's confidence in the territory's future stability and prosperity remained undiminished.
Increase in applications for "No criminal conviction" certificates: The senior staff officer of the Police Identification Bureau, Mr. Bruce Ferguson, said there had been an 11 pc increase in requests for certificates of "no criminal conviction" in the first quarter of this year compared with the corresponding period last year. He told the NT Lions Club that the Police processed 20 683 applications last year; certificates were granted in 20 111 cases, refused in 477 cases and in 95 cases "no conviction recorded" letters were sent. The
report in the SCMP on 11 May said the certificate was introduced in 1978 as a service to the public by which people who had applied for a visa to go to overseas countries could support their application by a letter from the HK Police to the effect that they had never been convicted of a criminal offence.
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