5
72
COST OF DEFENCE
Mr. Lo Urges Reduction Of Contribution
CRITICISM OF ESTIMATES
The Hon. Mr. M. K. Lo said:- Your Excellency,-A Budget showing a proposed expenditure of $32,259,160, as against an estimated revenue from all sources (including a half million dollar windfall), of $28,760,250, with a consequential deficit of $3,498,910 (though it may be, and indeed is, the best
circum-
the possible under stances), cannot of course expect a very cordial welcome. Nor is an analysis of some of its figures cal- culated to evoke any general en- thusiasm. Of the items of expendi- Works ture, $1,642,032 is Public Extraordinary; $1,371,231 is interest payable on Public Loans; $5,379,660 is payable for Military Contribution; and $16,766,916 is for Personal
Emoluments,
Rent Allowances, Transport, and Pensions; leaving a sum of merely $7,099,323 for all other purposes. It is obvious that increased provision for Primary Education (to which I will refer later), an intensive campaign to rid the Colony of malaria, slum clearing, a leper asylum, and other urgent social projects, must await better times. In the meantime the general that grateful public is naturally Government has managed to forego But any substantial new taxation. there is one item of expenditure on which I wish to say a few words, namely, that of Military Contribution. Equality of Status
a
in
Recently friend of mine England sent me a cutting from The Times, of July 29th, 1936, re- porting an address given by Mr. S. M. Bruce, High Commissioner for Australia, at the Royal Empire Society's Summer School at Bristol on the previous day, in the course of which Mr. Bruce asked for greater contributions from the Dominions towards Empire Defence. He stated that in 1935, on the basis of popula- tion, Great Britain was contributing £2 10s. 6d. to Defence, Australia £1 1s. 10d., New Zealand 12s. 6d., South Africa 12s., and Canada 5s. 7d. He adds:
"These figures were not fair since the question was one of
interest to all. If equal
the Dominions claimed complete liberty and freedom and equality of status, they should at the same time be pre- pared to shoulder the responsibilities that went with them".
According to the last Census, the population of the Colony came to just short of 850,000, which works out at over $6.00 or 7s. 6d. (at 1/3. to the dollar) per head, of a population in which dire poverty is widespread. This Colony is a Crown Colony; it does not enjoy "complete liberty and freedom and equality of status".
The question of Military Contri- bution has often been raised in the past. Your Excellency has already done so much in effecting permanent retrenchment in the interests of the Colony that I venture to appeal to you, Sir, once again, to look into this matter and obtain some reduction of the burden, which entails the pay- for the years ment by the Colony, 1935 to 1937-years of acute trade depression-of the sum of $14,510,504 for Military Contribution.
Motor Licence Fees
the Estimates for According to 1937, the import duty on motor spirit is to be raised from $670,000 (ap- proved Estimates for 1936) to $750,000; licence fees for motor vehicles are to be increased from ¡ $185,000 (approved Estimates for
1936) to $232,000.
When the Hon. the Colonial Trea- surer, on the 24th June, 1936, moved the resolution to increase the duty on light oils, he set out a rough estimate of the annual cost of maintaining the roads at a total of $600,000, and the increase in the duty of light oils was justified on the grounds that such increase would be sufficient to meet the 1936 Bill for maintenance.
According to the Memorandum of the Hon. the Colonial Treasurer on the financial position for 1935, 1936 and 1937, the increases of motor vehicle licences are to be from 30 to 50 per cent., and will be effective from the 1st July, 1937, and it is estimated that this will produce a further sum of $42,000.
I am not going to take up the time of this Council by lengthy arguments in favour of the motorists; they are fairly set out in the leading article of the South China Morning Post in its issue of June 25th, 1936. I can- not accept the validity of the argument that the cost of road main- tenance should be wholly borne by vehicle-owners. But even if this argument were sound no case has, as I submit, been made out for the pro- posed increase in car licences.
Bus Company Royalties
I venture to think that the argu- ments of the Hon. the Colonial Treasurer on the 24th June, 1936, are somewhat vitiated by the omission of two important items constituting the credit side of the account, namely, the royalties payable by the Bus Com- panies which, of course, are respon- sible for much of the wear and tear of the roads on account of their heavy vehicles.
The total revenue contributable by what I may term "vehicle-owners", as far as I can make out, is as
follows:-
Duty on motor spirit $ 750,000.00 Licences for motor cars 232,000.00 Licences for motor car
drivers
45,000.00
Special licence fees for
foreign vehicles
30,000.00
Licences for storage of
motor spirit
3,000.00
Royalty payable by:-
China Motor Bus Co.,
Ltd.
96,000.00
Kowloon Motor Bus
Co., Ltd.
114,500.00
Licences for other
vehicles Licences for drivers of
other vehicles
as
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46,000.00
2,000.00
$1,318,500.00
I submit, Sir,
matter of incidence, a contribution by vehicle- owners in the Colony of the sum of million nearly one and a quarter dollars (i.e. $1,318,500 less contem- plated increase), is more than ade- quate, and I accordingly submit that the proposed increase should abandoned.
Educational Matters
be
I propose now to make a few re- marks on the subject of education.
I was interested to note from the Hon. the Colonial Treasurer's Memorandum on Estimates for 1937 that, arising out of Mr. Burney's Report on "Education in Hongkong", the Director of Education is arrang- ing a Class 2 examination which will be directly financed by the Education Department, and that the Director is extending his arrangements for the
are
provision of Physical Training and that, for this purpose, a number of
Assistant Chinese
Instructors being trained by a locally engaged Instructor and Supervisor. I would like to congratulate the Director on these steps.
In answer to certain questions by my Honourable friend Mr. J. P. Braga, the Hon. the Acting Colonial Secretary, on the 28th November, 1935, made the following statement in regard to Mr. Burney's Report:- "Although the Report in question has been laid on the table of this Council it is the opinion of the Government that the consideration of its detailed recommendations should in the first place be the concern of the Board of Education to which the Report has been referred."
In view of this remark I refer to Mr. Burney's Report with diffidence because, so far as I know, the Board of Education has not published any report of the result of its detailed consideration of this Report. But share the view, which I know is held by many in the Colony, that there is something wrong with the educational policy of the Colony. A Government announcement as to its educational policy would have been welcome.
Secondary Education
The insufficiency of the existing provision for Primary Education was commented upon by the Retrench- ment Commission. (See paragraph 9, under the Heading "Education Department"). But I respectfully differ from the view therein express- ed, that "too much is done for Secondary Education".
Mr. Burney also deplored the
of quality
the extremely poor Primary Education provided, but I do not understand from his Report that he considers that too much has been done for Secondary Education. It is true that out of the vote for the Education Department of over two million
dollars, a very substantial part is devoted to Government Secondary Schools, and in subsidies for subsidised schools. And yet, to the average Chinese parent in the Colony the problem of giving his children a sound education is difficult, if not insoluble. There are, of course, numerous excellent Secondary Schools in the Colony, but for the most part they are run by religious bodies, and if the parent does not want his boy to be brought up in a! religious atmosphere not his own, he is practically restricted to Govern- ! ment Secondary Schools, in which the teaching of Chinese is at best inadequate. And if the problem for a parent in such circumstances is difficult as
the regards his son, difficulty is much more accentuated in the case of his daughter, for I that believe I am right in saying there is only one Government Secondary School for girls open to Chinese.
Big Salary Bill
Of the total Education Vote of over two million dollars, the sum of just
is over $1,600,000
for Personal Emoluments. But the materials pro- vided do not enable one to work out how much it costs to
each Government School, and the cost per capita of the boys in each Govern- ment School. I respectfully ask for a statement on the lines indicated above.
run
Mr. Burney, at page 16 of his Report, referred to the British Schools: as follows:-"In 1914 the Director of Education wrote:-"The Government realises the justice of making the ratepayers contribute little as ! possible towards the cost of this special class of schools, and the fees are therefore put as high as the i
as
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