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HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.
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of view of public health and hygiene. It seems to me a real pity that a scheme conceived in the noble spirit of helping the poor at the expense of the rich should contain factors which make the realization of the aim in view, a matter of such patent impossibility.
When meters per floor have been installed the effect will be that in many cases the burden of water charges will be shifted from the landlord to the tenant, and I beg most respectfully to concur in the view expressed by the Financial Secretary, in paragraph 15 of his Memorandum, and I do earnestly appeal to the landlords to adjust their rents in consequence of the fact that the liability for water consumed has to be met by the tenant.
Before I sit down I should like to pay a sincere tribute to the Financial Secretary for the obviously fair and sympathetic way in which he has tried to deal with this difficult problem, and for his manifest concern for the poor. His and Mrs. Caine's work and efforts in the cause of social improvement in the Colony, have won the appreciation and gratitude of the Chinese community. It is therefore with genuine regret that I have felt it my duty to make the criticisms I have on his proposals. My own impression is, that if he could have formulated a scheme without having to reconcile the irreconcilable views of different Government departments, it would have materially differed from that now presented to this Council.
Since Government has announced that it intends to proceed with the Financial Secretary's proposals subject to the modifications indicated above, and since this Bill forms part of such proposals, I regret that, as a matter of principle, I must record my vote against this Bill.
HON. DR. LI SHU-FAN.-Your Excellency,-As my colleagues, the Hon. Mr. Chau and the Hon. Mr. Lo have dealt with the various aspects of the Bill so systematically and comprehensively, there is little I can usefully add. I wish to associate myself generally with the remarks made by the Hon. Mr. M. K. Lo, whom I regard as an authority on the Colony's water problem.
However, there are certain points which I wish to emphasize and to bring to your notice.
Despite the expressed policy of the Government in the past not to make water a source of revenue, I am surprised to find from the Government's proposals as set out in the Financial Secretary's memorandum, that this is not the case. I consider any policy which has the effect of making a profit out of the public water supply, however small, is based on unsound premises. This may be refuted but it cannot be denied that the proposed charges are not excessive and inequitable. Such a policy is not only unsound but is a menace to public health. This is so when you remember that the poor will have to pay for every drop of water used after the free allowances are abolished, and that epidemics usually originate from the slums-- the districts of the poor.
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