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3.
In the Island of Hong Kong the history
of motor-huses has followed similar lines.
Apart from certain small and semi-private services,
no motor-bus services were permitted on the Island
till last year. Certain Companies had applied
for permission to supplement by buses the service
afforded by the electric trams. Two of these
Companies were firms already engaged in trans-
portation services and both proposed to use
British buses and Government after some hesitation
agreed that the somewhat narrow and tortuous
streets of the city could be safely used by a
limited number of buses.
Licences were
accordingly granted for these services to the two
Companies referred to viz. The Hong Kong Tramway
Company and the Hong Kong Hotel Garage.
4.
It is therefore submitted that in
actual practice this Government has followed the
lines suggested in your despatch. As a result
it is known that concessions in the matter of
motor-bus services are only likely to be given to
.........
concerns undertaking to use British vehicles, and
at the same time all the profitable routes of the
Colony are filled with British services of such
adequacy as to form sufficient grounds for refusing
licences for additional services.
5. I must confess, however, that I am
somewhat at a loss to understand why foreign car
manufacturers should complain of these indirect
methods of protection in a British Colony, while
Great Britain herself openly imposes a heavy import
duty on their products, unless perhaps it is the
case that notwithstanding the safe-guarding duty,
a
foreign