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Tuesday, February 13, 1973
"You are businessmen and taxpayers, and you may well say 'this
is all very well, but can we really pay for it?'. No doubt the Financial
Secretary will be speaking about this when he opens his budget, but
the short answer is 'Yes, certainly on present assumptions and on present
projections'. All this really means is that provided our economy and
consequently our revenue continues to expand as we expect it to, the
targets are realistic.
"Let me put this rather differently. Hong Kong's industrialisation
and prosperity have been achieved against tremendous odds. The phenomenon
has certainly surprised the world, but it may also, a little, have surprised
us, the people of Hong Kong. To some extent our thinking may have been
affected in the past by a prudent doubt as to whether this prosperity would
last. I have no doubt that we should plan on the assumption of continued
prosperity. I am sure that this is what a responsible group like yourselves
and the people of Hong Kong would wish your Government to do, and I am
sure that it is the right way to keep prosperous.
Community Spirit
"I am always impatient of pessimists.
*We have of course in Hong Kong very substantial resources of money
and production, of services and expertise, and of human ingenuity and resilience.
Recent months have shown that we also have another resource
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community spirit.
It has always been apparent in the extraordinarily wide participation in
charitable enterprises and in times of emergency or disaster. But in the
campaign to clean Hong Kong it has emerged as a force which stood ready to
assist in dealing with a large and intractible community problem; and it has
achieved striking results. Great credit for the result is due to the organising
committee, the Cleansing Department. the Information Services and the area
/committees,