HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.
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when the Colony is suffering from a serious depression of trade, with little prospect of an early revival.
I will now proceed to examine individual items of the Estimates of Revenue.
Public School Fees.
On Page 9 we find that the vote "Public School Fees" shows an increase of $22,000. Although, when last year's Estimates were before the Council, the Hon. Sir Henry Pollock on behalf of the unofficial members asked the Government to consider whether such fees might not be reduced, we do not demur to the present proposal, as we consider it not unreasonable. It affects only the upper forms. of King's College and Queen's College and five other Government Schools where the fees in the past have been low in comparison with those of other schools.
Motor Vans.
On the same page, the vote "Use of Motor Vans" shows an increase from $7,500 to $25,000. We do not understand the purport of the item, nor can we conjecture the reason for its large increase.
Wireless Messages.
On Page 9, again, the item "Message" under "Post Office" is increased by $170,000. We should like to know whether these messages are all transmitted by wireless or, if not, by what other means they are transmitted.
The public would be interested to know what revenue the Colony receives in return for the large and growing expenditure of the Wireless Sub-Department: for in addition to the annually recurrent charges shown under the Sub-Department proper, provision is made under the Public Works Department for special expenditure amounting to $76,700.
Kowloon-Canton Railway.
The revenue from the Kowloon-Canton Railways shows a slight decrease of about $1,000, as we see from Page 10: while on pages 97-106 under Expenditure we find that the staff of the Department has been augmented and a larger supply of coal and locomotive oil has been provided for.
A short statement of the position of the Railway would be interesting.
Other Receipts.
On Page 11 the item "Other Miscellaneous Receipts" shows a drop from $200,000 to $50,000, but no explanation is given as to why the Government expects this very considerable reduction.
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