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the
that principle is entirely wrong; Government is creating what will be an enormously valuable property in Kow- loon and on this island by its various schemes of road-making and reclamation, and it is at the same time living from hand to mouth. No Municipality and no Government I have ever heard of have attempted Extraordinary Public Works to the extent you do here and try to meet the cost out of current revenue.
SCIENTIFIC TOWN PLANNING.
Hongkong is now, perhaps, the most important port, politically and other. wise, in the British Empire. It is the foundation of our foothold, of our in- fluence in the Northern Pacific. It has grown out of all knowledge during the last 30 years, and if anything can be certain, it is that the progress of Hong- kong must continue at a much greater rate in the future than in the past. Taking a large view, I think it is high time that the Government took in hand a scheme of scientific town planning. I have no doubt that the excellent but overworked officials of the P.W.D. have planned ahead considerably. Town plan- ning is a special art, and they cannot be expected to devote enough time to this, even if any of them had the neces- sary experience. I would suggest, there- fore, that a town planning expert should be engaged to draw up a scheme to pro- vide for the expansion of the Colony for the next fifty years. Expenditure on Public Works could be regulated accord. ing to this plan, and it could then be deoided what would be a fair proportion of the cost that the present generation should bear.
The Colony has no debt to speak of and assets of enormous potential value; so it is in a fine position and its credit stands very high, and if borrowing were found to be necessary, which it would not be for some years at least, it could @ecure money on most favourable terms. LACK OF FORESIGHT.
All the great British ports of Asia are suffering from the lack of foresight of past generations. Shanghai is in the Bame case and enormously expensive resumptions of land have to be made to provide for increases in traffic. Our predecessors built as if they expected no development to speak of. The Dutch, on the other hand, had wider views; the Stadthouse in Batavia built 250 years ago is still efficient for the purpose for which it was built, and the town of Batavia and the other cities in Java are so planned that no expensive resumptions of land for street widening purposes are ever necessary. One of the first things Americans did when they occupied the Philippines 20 years ago was to engage the great town planner, Burnham, to lay out Manila City, which is growing up on the lines laid down by him, which provided for expansion for centuries to come. I think the time has come for us to follow their example and discon- tinue this hand-to-mouth policy. It will very likely be found that if we abandon the policy of scrambling to overtake the expenditure of the P.W.D., it may be possible in time to remit a considerable percentage of the present taxation.
THE HON. MR. A. O. LANG.
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE VIEWS.
The Hon. Mr. A. O. LANG: Sir, Following the remarks of my Un- official colleagues regarding the varl- ous questions raised in connection with the Finance Bill, I desire, in the first place, to record my appreciation of what
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