4
Wednesday, April 25, 1973
Mr. Wong pointed out that "a lower Crown rent would set Government
up as a good example of a landlord and help in stabilising the extraordinarily
inflated price of land."
The Hon. James Wu, said a compromise solution should and must be
found, if Hong Kong were to forge ahead in greater harmony and prosperity.
He said for many years, people in Hong Kong had been led to believe,
by a proviso in the renewable Crown leases, that upon expiry, renewal would
be granted with a new Crown rent similar to the prevailing Zone Crown Rent
but "without payment of any fine or premium" as was clearly printed in the
Crown leases.
Contravention
"The belated 'Consolidated Statement by the Government in 1969
requiring the payment of a lump sum or decapitalised premium in the form of
greatly increased Crown rents," he added, "was considered to be in direct
contravention of this proviso and there appeared to be a credibility gap on the
part of Government."
Mr. Wu said: "The New Kowloon area, where some 5,000 leases are due
for renewal soon, is a low-income residential and industrial area and contrary
to the remarks made by the Financial Secretary last May.'
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Referring to the concessions made by the Government in May last year
and also last month, he said they were "grossly inadequate" bearing in mind
the greatly inflated land prices in the last few years.
On the unchecked high land prices and high rental on Hong Kong's
industry and commerce, Mr. Wu said people in all walks of life were wondering
"if Hong Kong had not been allowed to price itself out of today's competitive
world markets and into self-destruction."
/He hoped