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HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.
"The Unofficial Members of Council strongly press for information as to when the plans of the new Shing Mun dam may be expected to arrive out here, because they regard the promptest commencement with work on such dam as vitally important to the welfare of this Colony."
(Applause).
THE HON. MR. W. E. L. SHENTON.-Your Excellency,--Time passes with ever increasing rapidity, and it is by the return of a well known landmark, that one realises that another year has passed.
Year after year with the regularity of the seasons the Budget day comes round and one becomes cognisant of the fact that the Government annual cycle has again been completed.
We are apt to forget that each year our Government Officers approach nearer their time for retirement and it is only when we see an official announcement such as "A number of retirements in the senior ranks of the Cadet Service are expected during the next year or two," that we realise we shall soon be saying good-bye to several with whom we have for years worked and whom we regard almost as part of our constitution-all too soon shall we bid them farewell, men with whom we may not at all times have been in accord but whom we have nevertheless respected, because of their disinterestedness, and their desire to deal honourably with
us.
The Estimates which we are debating to-day have been described as "colourless" not only by the Hon. Colonial Secretary himself but by the Press generally. I fail to understand the denomination "colourless" unless it is meant to denote something which does not lend itself to undue adverse criticism-if that is a fair interpretation, then I agree.
as
For several years we Unofficial members have asked for the commencement of numerous public works, which we regard absolutely essential to the welfare and future development of this Colony. We now rejoice to find some of the most important of them in the Estimates before us.
On the 9th May, 1930, H.E. Sir William Peel, our then newly appointed Governor, was presented with a public address, which was the work of a large and representative Committee. In this document of welcome appeared a list of the various public works and matters of policy which that Committee regarded as fit subjects for the consideration of His Excellency during his term of Governorship. Some ridicule was cast at the time at the length of the list, and the wide field covered.
I have recently read over that portion of the address, and I fail to find a single item which has not received the attention of His Excellency-much has now been completed, some matters are
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