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HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.
of national benefit as well as of great assistance in municipal organisation and order." Mr. Stead moralises that "it has come to be recognised in most parts of the world, at the present time, that it is far more easy to control a people who are able to satisfy, by proper means, their natural desire for recreation and amusement."
He regards a public aquarium as "an essential institution" and argues that "even if it did not 'pay' from the strictly financial point of view it would still be a very 'cheap' means of granting to the public very valuable educational facilities." I share the view that there need be no fear that an aquarium at Kowloon will not pay, always provided that it is properly designed, constructed, and run.
Your Excellency, I apologise for the inordinate length of my speech. I justify it on the ground that this is the one occasion in the year when Unofficial Members of Your Excellency's Council have the opportunity of placing their views very fully before Your Excellency on matters concerning the administration, finance, and municipal needs of the Colony. Better far that criticisms be advanced openly in the honest conviction of their soundness than that there be tacit acquiescence in proposals with which one does not inwardly agree. (Applause).
THE HON. DR. S. W. TS'O.-Sir, I rise to express my general agreement with the speeches made by the Senior Unofficial Member, the Hon. Sir Shou-son Chow and by my Chinese colleague, the Hon. Dr. Kotewall. The unprecedented fall in the exchange rate of the dollar and the general increase in salaries necessitate the increase of taxation in order to meet the commitments of the Government. While the whole community would loyally support the Government by paying these increases, yet there is a feeling of uneasiness in the mind of the people in that the extra burden which they are called upon to bear is not for any special work for the advancement of the Colony but merely to counterbalance the low value of the dollar and to pay increased emoluments.
Moreover, drastic cuts have to be made into the expenditure of essential works of the Colony. How long the present exchange value or the dollar will remain and how much lower it may still further drop no one can tell. To suffer the finance of the Colony to fluctuate with the caprice of exchange, I submit, is uneconomical.
I urge, therefore, that the Government will leave no stone unturned to find out the possibility or feasibility of stabilising the currency of the Colony at an early date.
The Assessment Tax.
It is unfortunate that the Assessment Tax has to be increased in order to raise revenue to meet the Colony's expenditure. It is unfortunate because this form of taxation falls heavily upon the shoulders of the poorer class of the Chinese. During the great war
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