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Wednesday, March 14, 1973
"The prime objective of insuring one's own life is primarily not
saving for old age but to safeguard against premature death or sudden disability.
"In a society like Hong Kong where social security is minimal, there
is no or negligible financial assistance to widows, orphans and dependents
when a family suddenly lost its bread-earner.
"Government has, in the first instance, failed to provide any meaningful
social security for these unfortunate people and now even tries to penalise
those responsible families which wish to insure themselves against financial
and social disaster in case of calamity."
Disservice
Dr. Chung emphasised that the Government was doing the public a
disservice if such tax relief was abolished "because considerable paper work
is involved or difficulty encountered by the Commissioner of Inland Revenue
in handling schemes linking life insurance and investment."
He also spoke on Hong Kong's manufacturing industry which had contributed
in 1972 the largest portion amounting to $6,319 million or over 32 per cent
in the Net Dosestic Product, and offered the greatest proportion of employment
(about 50 per cent) of the total working population.
"The export of our manufactured goods is still and will continue to
be, for a long time to come, the main pillar in our economy without which the
whole Hong Kong economy will, I regret to say, be in jeopardy.
"It is therefore in the overall interest for the Government to ensure
that the manufacturing sector continues to succeed in the world markets."
/At the