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HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL. ·
A Missing Document.
On the other hand, there is one important document which we have missed this year. It is the abstract showing the differences between the approved Estimates of Expenditure for 1930 and the Estimates of Expenditure for 1931. For about twenty-three years, except for one or two years during the Great War, this abstract has invariably been presented with the Estimates; it is a very useful document in that it not only accounts for the increases and decreases in the expenditure under each head, but also shows such differences in total under the title "Recapitulation." For instance, the abstract presented last year enabled us to tell at a glance how much of the total increase in Personal Emoluments was due to the creation of new posts, how much to stipulated increments, and how much to other emoluments, just as it enabled us to find out how much saving was to be effected by the abolition of posts, how much by reductions due to new appointments, and how much by other readjustments.
This year, in the absence of such a statement, we have not been able to ascertain these important facts, though it is more necessary now than in previous years for the public to know how the total of Personal Emoluments is made up, especially what total increase is entailed by the revision of salaries.
The scantiness of the footnotes was commented upon by the unofficials last year, and the then Colonial Secretary promised to repair the omission in future Estimates. This has been done in the Estimates of Expenditure, but in the Estimates of Revenue there is not a single explanatory note to account for the increases or decreases shown therein. The Hon. Colonial Secretary in his speech, and the Hon. Colonial Treasurer in his Memorandum, gave some explanations, but they covered only a few selected sub-heads, leaving unexplained innumerable items showing differences between the Estimates for 1930 and the Estimates for 1931.
Increased Taxation.
The proposed augmentation of existing taxes and the imposition of new taxes, though unfortunate in these bad times, seem to us unavoidable, when we consider that the Colony is at present living to an appreciable extent on its capital, and that resort has been made, and will have to be made, to public loans to finance certain public works of urgent importance. But while we speak of new taxation as being unavoidable, it must not be thought that we agree with the Government that the Colony is not as heavily taxed as some other colonies. It should be remembered that the cost of living in Hong Kong is higher than that of most places in and out of China. But whether our reasoning is sound or not, the additional taxation is very unfortunate, coming as it does at a time.
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