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Wednesday, May 10, 1972
Mr. Hong said the purpose of reassessing Crown rents upon expiry
of renewable Crown leases were two-fold: first, to bring Crown rents to
a more realistic level in line with market conditions, and, secondly, to
derive a higher revenue from them.
"Under ordinary conditions, this step would be the normal
procedure in the financial administration of a government. However,
every one is now aware of the abnormal inflation in land values in
recent years."
As the price of land affects rent, which is an important component
in the cost of living, it would be injudicious for Government to adopt a
formula which raises the Crown rents to too high a level, he said.
"If we do not control rent or at least Crown rent, which we can,
we will find that we will face the problem of controlling another factor
of production which is more tedious and almost impossible."
He said many of the leases concerned were industrial lots, and
already some industrialists had become disillusioned with the high land
price policy of Government and they had moved their factories elsewhere.
"If this policy is allowed to continue, the ill effects on our
economy should be obvious," he said.
Mr. Wong pointed out that the present lease holders were generally
not the original lease holders
——
many were recent ones and owned small
lots for the purpose of their own living.
He cited several examples, where the share for a flat owner of
the new Crown rent, on renewal of the Crown lease, would amount to more
per annum than the total annual rental income.
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