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Speech by the Secretary for Education and Manpower
in the Legislative Council on 25 May 1988
Motion on the
Pneumoconiosis (Compensation) Ordinance (Cap 360)
SECRETARY FOR EDUCATION AND MANPOWER:
Sir,
comments.
I would like to thank Mr. Ho and Mr. Tam for their
I fully share their enthusiasm for prevention. It
is obviously much better to prevent someone falling ill than
to compensate him afterwards. I will therefore be very
Consider happy to study their specific proposals for further
measures.
I do not myself think it is likely that the
incidence of the disease will increase in future. The
preventive measures we have already taken have met with most
encouraging success and all the available evidence suggests
that the incidence of the disease is likely to continue
fall.
to
Even with the reduction in levy we are likely to
have ample funds for any worthwhile preventive measures we
can devise. However, if our forecasts do turn out to be too
optimistic, I do not myself see any problem in reviewing the
levy and, if necessary, increasing it later. The fact that
we have been able to show that levies can go down as well as
up actually makes employers more willing to pay rather than
less.