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HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.
Police Stations at Kowloon Tong and Blue Pool Road. The introduc- tion of a new subsidy code for vernacular schools is reflected in additional expenditure in the Education Department; and Government has again felt it its duty to increase, this time to $750,000, the sub- vention to the Tung Wah Hospitals. Considerable expenditure has been undertaken to provide an adequate cemetery for the Chinese population at Wo Hop Shek, near Fanling; and road maintenance and improvement will cost several lakhs. Provision has also been made under a new head for the recently established Immigration Depart- ment, but while it is hoped that the control of Immigration will be self-supporting it is not intended that surplus revenue should be derived therefrom. All items of Public Works Extraordinary are explained in the notes by the Honourable Director of Public Works already in the hands of Honourable Members.
I am afraid all of those measures will not find favour with the conservative, who will say cut this or retrench that, but if the Colony is to advance as it should, and it still lags far behind modern standards in many respects, it must have these amenities and if it must have them it must pay for them. The estimates have already been pruned to what must be considered an excessive degree by idealists who may condemn Government for having failed in the middle of a total war to build Jerusalem with its hospitals and health centres, its colleges and schools, in Hong Kong's green and pleasant land. We have tried to steer a middle course and have followed the golden mean of prac- ticality as against the extremes both of ultra conservatism and radical change. As I have already stated these draft estimates involve a deficit of 7 million dollars. The 1% increase on the rates already referred to will, if approved, reduce that deficit to roughly $6,500,000. How is that to be met? Your Excellency has already signed orders increasing by ten cents per gallon the duty on heavy oils to be used as fuel for heavy oil road vehicles and imposing a duty of ten cents per gallon on other hydrocarbon oils at present untaxed, which are estimated to bring in $1,000,000 per annum, and an order further increasing the duties on liquor which are estimated to bring in $650,000 per annum. It is proposed to increase the Entertainments Tax, to increase Estate Duty and impose a new tax on table waters, and an order to that effect under the Public Revenue Protection Ordinance has also been signed. There is no reason why the con- sumers of sarsaparilla and lemonade should not in their degree con- tribute with the brandy and whisky drinkers to the upkeep of the Colony. The amended Entertainments Tax should produce an additional $300,000 per annum, the table waters tax $300,000, and the increased Estate Duty $600,000. Our prospective deficit is, therefore, reduced to roughly 32 million dollars, though I must emphasize that all these calculations of revenue presuppose a con- tinuation of the prosperity of the Colony.
It appears to me that there remains one way only to meet the remaining deficit which represents roughly the excess of war expendi- ture over war revenue and that is by increasing the war taxation.
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