MINUTES.
BE WRITTEN MINUTES NOT TO
ON THIS SIDE.
N°331.
58792
3 DEC 23
345
GOVERNMENT HOUSE.
HONGKONG. 19th October, 1923.
My Lord Duke,
Jov
I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt
of Your Grace's despatch No.190 of August 22nd with regard
37226 to the Rents Amendment Ordinance, 1927.
Enclosure !
2.
I regret that I omitted to send to Your
Grace in forwarding the Ordinance a report of the debate
on the second reading of the Bill. I now enclose a copy of the report and would invite Your Grace's attention to
the speech in which the Honourable Mr. Pollock dwelt at
considerable length on the problem with which the Ordinance
is intended to deal.
3.
As will be seen from the remarks which I
made in Council I have a strong dislike for legislation of
this nature and I am most anxious that the system of
controlling renta should be ended as soon as possible.
I am, however, absolutely convinced that it cannot be ended
yet and, I fear thet, unless circumstances take a very
unexpected turn in the near future, there can be no doubt
that it will be necessary to continue the Ordinance in
operation for at least a further year from July, 1924.
Your Grace asks for a report on housing
.4
conditions,
I am afraid that it is impossible to give any report based on accurate date since owing to the constant
influx of Chinese from the neighbouring provinces any
figuree
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
THE DUKE OF DEVONSHIRE, K.G.,
&C.
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