HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.
119
In this connection the Hong Kong & Kowloon Property Owners Association has recently made representations to the Chinese members of the two Councils asking that the Government be requested to grant certain alleviations, even temporarily, by a reduction in the rates, and by separate assessment for each floor in all houses which are let by the floor, each having access to a common staircase.
After careful consideration my Chinese colleagues and I cannot support the plea for a reduction in rates, for the simple. reason that the Budget has to be balanced, and that if the rates were reduced other forms of taxation, perhaps more burdensome to the people, would have to be imposed to enable the Government to carry on.
We do, however, commend to the sympathetic consideration of the Government the request for separate assessment for each floor as a temporary measure of relief to the people. Only recently I have heard that the owner of a house which was partly empty, found it cheaper to give "notice to quit" to the remaining tenants, so as to leave the whole house vacant, which would enable him to obtain a refund of the rates paid. Under the present system tenement houses are assessed as a whole, and no refund of rates is made for vacant floors. With this subject the Hon. Mr. T. N. Chau will, I understand, deal in greater detail.
On the Expenditure side of the draft Estimates, several matters call for remarks and comments. In connection with the item "Chinese Assistant" and "Chinese Press Censors" in the Secretariat for Chinese Affairs, I desire to pay a long-delayed tribute to these officers for the manner in which they have discharged their onerous duties. No one outside the Department knows more than I do for I had some direct association with the work of Chinese Press censorship in the troublous years of the General Strike and Boycott in 1925 and 1926-what a difficult and thankless task these Censors have to perform. The work has to be done within certain prescribed hours, and done at high pressure. It has been a marvel to me how it could have been performed so efficiently by just four men under the Chinese Assistant; and the absence of serious mistakes and complaints is a standing tribute to the ability and tact of Mr. Lau Tsz-ping and his junior colleagues. (Applause).
It may not be out of place here to refer to the impending retirement of my Honourable friend, Mr. A. E. Wood, Secretary for Chinese Affairs. The Chinese members of Council heard the announcement, as did the whole Chinese community, with more than ordinary regret, for Mr. Wood, during his long association with the Secretariat, has won the high esteem and admiration of
43
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.