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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
As is well known, one of the very serious problems which plague industry is the continued speculation on land, which in turn has caused rents of factory space and business premises to keep on rising.
The Government has so far shown every desire to push up land prices at the highest possible level so that Government will derive the maximum revenue when Crown land is auctioned. This is highly commendable. But a secondary effect is that the fever of land speculation is also kept at an unnaturally high pitch. Result: high rents all round, the land speculators become richer, and the smaller businessmen, the white-collar and the lower income groups become poorer, and living costs rise higher and higher.
In order to bring back some semblance of balance and sanity to this whole picture, the Hong Kong Civic Association, and I believe also the Reform Club, have proposed that Government freeze rents in all business premises (and particularly in school premises) until such time that Government has completed its survey of the situation and is in a position to make a policy statement to the public.
Government's Fiscal Policy
I would be failing in my duty as an elected member if I did not speak forthrightly on the Government's fiscal and budgetary policy.
During the past five years, the only time we had a deficit—and a small one at that—was when the Government decided to increase civil service salaries retroactively.
Otherwise, Hong Kong may be considered as being overburdened with refugees and yet blessed in having a large budget surplus from year to year. As a matter of fact, it has been the unwritten rule of thumb method in Hong Kong to budget for the biggest possible ever deficit, so that we can arrive at the biggest possible surplus. So it was that for the 1962-63 financial year, we ended up with a surplus of $139,788,484 instead of the projected deficit of $163,936,110, representing a divergence of over $300,000,000 between the two figures.
One should have thought that Hong Kong with such buoyant and surplus-earning capacity should have qualified for World Bank loans. But the World Bank works differently, and the more credit-worthy a country or territory is, the less it qualifies for World Bank aid. That is why we were peremptorily turned down by the World Bank the last time we applied for a loan to develop our water supply system.
It seems to me to be a good idea, therefore, if the Government should invite the World Bank to send a Mission to Hong Kong to study and report on how best Hong Kong can make full use of its
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existing resources and budget surpluses. And after that to advise us under what conditions we could apply for developmental loans, such as for expanding our water supply system, from the World Bank.
But without waiting for the World Bank to send a mission to Hong Kong, there is one proposal I wish to put to the Government for its consideration. Or perhaps I should put this proposal in the form of a series of questions.
Why is it that the Government insists that civil servants' pensions should be lumped together with the general reserves? Why does the Government not establish a Revolving Fund of say $100 million or its equivalent in Sterling to take care of this contingency, and make provision for this Fund to be replenished at regular intervals? Why since Hong Kong is a British Colony has the Hong Kong Government not sought and obtained an unequivocal guarantee from the United Kingdom Government that all civil servants' pensions will be fully protected?
If these questions can be resolved, I see no valid reason why a larger proportion of Hong Kong's reserve funds cannot be ploughed back locally to stimulate our economic expansion even further.
The Future
Finally, Mr. Chairman, my attention has been drawn to a recent report prepared by a foreign banking organization in which it is stated that since the lease on the New Territories is due to expire in another 34 years, some prior agreement or settlement should be reached in order to offset the probability of greater reluctance to enter into long-term capital investments in Hong Kong.
This is a point of view which many people in Hong Kong are concerned about. The United Kingdom Government should be made more conscious of this point of view, and should at the earliest suitable occasion seek to negotiate an agreement on the extension of the New Territories lease for at least another 50 years. (Laughter). It may seem laughable now, Mr. Chairman, but believe me I am quite serious.
As the "Switzerland of Asia", Hong Kong is of tremendous and irreplaceable value to countries in Asia. Hong Kong is a centre where people of all creeds and beliefs live together in peace and personal freedom.
We want not only to keep it that way, but to make it for future generations even better than what it is today!
I support the motion. (Applause).
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