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HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL,
that the Colony is under a debt of gratitude to this Committee. And I have no doubt that the rates recommended, to which effect is being given by the Regulations, and which were the main task of the Committee, will be readily accepted by this Council, even though this acceptance must involve the repudiation of the rates prescribed under emergency powers by the then Competent Authority at the end of July.
There is however, one recommendation in the report to which effect is being given by this Bill and from which I respectfully differ on a point on principle, namely, that which recommends that certain accommodation be reserved for resident guests in each of the Hotels dealt with that for the Peninsula and Repulse Bay Hotels being 80% and that for the Hong Kong Hotel and Gloucester Hotel being 20%-
According to paragraph 1 of the Report the terms of reference to the Committee were "to enquire into and advise Government con- cerning the rates to be charged for accommodation, food and service by Hotels and Boarding-houses throughout the Colony.' With great respect to the Committee I cannot see how the recommendation as to reserving a portion of each Hotel for the resident guests can be within the terms of reference. But there it is and the recommendation is being implemented by this Bill.
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As regards these particular Hotels, in which I have an interest, I understand that the ratios between "resident" and "transient' accommodations now recommended substantially corresponded in fact with the ratios between these two classes of business which have obtained for a long time, as a matter of voluntary co-operation between Government and the Hotels concerned. For this reason, these Hotels, as I understand, are not making any representations against this recommendation. But the question of principle, which is involved in the recommendation, towards which "the present exceptional circumstances" may incline Honourable Members to adopt an accoin- modating attitude, should not be ignored. Perhaps it would be more correct for ine to say that the absence of any principle on which the recommendation is based should not be allowed to go unchallenged !
Sir, the question of principle is this: under what circumstances is Government justified in seeking legislative sanction for invading the rights of private property without compensation? Or, more specifically, under what circumstances is Government justified to impose legislative control as to what proportion of available accommodation must be reserved for one class of persons on Hotels which have been established under the laws of the Colony on the basis that they can cater for residents only, or for transients only, or for both and in whatever proportion they choose?
On this important question, I confess I have not been able to obtain much guidance from the Report. The only observations con- tained in the Report which are relevant on this point are set out in paragraphs 11 (e) and (f) which are as follows:-
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