76
ment which may be expected to ré- quire renewal within a reasonable period of time, as is the common
practice of other water undertakings and similar enterprises.
The proper accounting procedure is to build up a Renewals Fund to which such expenditure can be charged. In the absence of such a Fund the cost of renewal must be met by other means; e.g., renewal of the
cross-harbour pipe line is now necessary and will have to be met from loan. There is, however, a factor in Hongkong finance which forces a de- parture from orthodox principle-the military contribution. If annual con- tributions were made to a Renewals Fund and revenue raised from water i charges to cover such contributions, military contribution of 20 per cent. would have to be paid on such
The
additional gross revenue. revenue to be collected would there- fore be 25 per cent. more than the Renewals contribution. On the other hand if renewals are in due course financed from loan the charges on such loan will, if present practice is maintained be deductible from the revenue assessable to military con- tribution. Unless and until there is a change in the military contribution system, therefore, the balance of ad- vantage lies in making no current provision for renewals but financing Any them in due course by loan. "surplus" of revenue which may arise should, as already indicated, be re- garded as available for renewals."
And yet the public is now being forced to finance renewals, not out of a loan (in which case the liability is equitably apportioned between the present consumers and posterity), but out of current revenue which is liable to a 20 per cent. payment for Military Contribution, and against the authori- tative and expert views of the Finan- cial Secretary set out above.
Gratuitous Charge Unjust
For the reasons indicated above I submit that, however much opinion may differ as to the other items of expenditure set out in the Financial Secretary's Memorandum, there can be no question that this gratuitous charge of over $300,000 a year as a working expense of the Water De- is unjust, and cannot partment possibly be justified.
are
one
reason
Apart from all questions of figures, the Financial Secretary's proposals
unsatisfacory for which is fundamenal, namely, that the charges do not take into account the difference between a necessary supply represented by a minimum consumption per head per household, and waste, or extravagant use, repre- sented by a consumption in excess of such minimum consumption.
The desirability of making a more or less nominal charge for the initial minimum supply is frankly admitted by the Financial Secretary, and was stressed by no less an authority than
Governor in this former a
fear Council, Sir William Peel. that one inevitable consequence of the new scheme is that the very poor will increasingly resort to the use of street hydrants, with all its obvious objec- tions from the point of view of public health and hygiene. It seems to me a real pity that a scheme conceived in the noble spirit of helping the poor at the expense of the rich should contain factors which make the
SOUTH CHINA KORNING POST
16th September, 1938.
4
realization of the aim in view a matter of such patent impossibility.
Burden On Tenant When meters per floor have been installed the effect will be that in many
cases the burden of water charges will be shifted from the land- lord to the tenant, and I beg most respectfully to concur in the view ex- pressed by the Financial Secretary, in paragraph 15 of his Memorandum, and I do earnestly appeal to the land- lords to adjust their rents in con- sequence of the fact that the liability for water consumed has to be made by the tenant.
Before I sit down I should like to pay a sincere tribute to the Financial Secretary for the obviously fair and sympathetic way in which he has tried to deal with this difficult problem, and for his manifest concern His and Mrs. Caine's for the poor. work and efforts in the cause of social improvement in the Colony have won the appreciation and grati- tude of the Chinese community. It is therefore with genuine regret that I have felt it my duty to make the criticisms I have on his proposals. My own impression is that if he could have formulated a scheme without having to reconcile the irreconcilable views of different Government Departments, it would have materially differed from that now presented to this Council.
Since Government has announced that it intends to proceed with the Financial Secretary's proposals sub- ject to the modifications indicated above, and since this Bill forms part of such proposals, I regret that, as a matter of principle, I must record my vote against this Bill.
DR.
LI SHU-FAN
Policy of Profit Regarded As Unsound
QUESTION OF HEALTH
Dr. Li Shu-fan said: As my colleagues, Mr. Chau and Mr. Lo have dealt with the various aspects of the Bill so systematically and comprehensively, there is little I can usefully add. I wish to associate myself generally with the remarks made by Mr. M. K. Lo whom I regard as an authority on the Colony's water problem.
However, there are certain points, which I wish to emphasize and to bring to your notice.
am
I
Despite the expressed policy of the Government in the past not to make water a source of revenue, I
to find surprised
that the Government's proposals as set out in the Finance Secretary's memoran- dum that this is not the case. consider any policy which has the effect of making a profit out of the public water supply, however small, is based on unsound premises. This but it cannot be may be refuted denied that the proposed: charges and inequitable. are not excessive Such a policy is not only unsound but is a menace to public health. This is so when you remember that the poor will have to pay for every drop of water used after the free and that allowances are abolished, epidemics usually originate from the slums the districts of the poor.
Use of Hydrants
The adoption of the new scheme will undoubtedly have the effect of to the forcing the poor to resort supply of street hydrants. If so, I can envisage the days of the rider- be kept when people will main, waiting and perhaps fighting for hours for a bucket or two of water. of the unfairness As an example and the inequity of the new scheme, for the I may quote the charges Peak District, which is 45 cents per thousand gallons even though the extra cost of pumping to the Peak District alone,
30 cents per thousand
then, gallons. Actually Peak residents will pay 15 cents, whereas the rest of the colony on the lower levels including the poor, will
25
thousand pay
cents per gallons.
I note in appendix III of the pro- posed ordinance, under the heading of 'Free Allowances of Water', that the Royal Hongkong Golf Club of Fanling, is given a supply of six thousand gallons per day free of
I charge.
and can understand heartily endorse special grants to the hospitals and charitable institutions as enumerated in appendix III but stretch of club by any can this imagination be considered under the same category? In fact, this club, like the Peak District, is exclusively reserved for the
of privilege Europeans. Under the circum- stances, is it fair that 97 per cent. of this colony's population be asked to pay for the privileged few?
I regret that as the Bill is so un- sound in principle and not in the I am best interest of the people, compelled to register a vote against it.
GOVERNMENT REPLY
Poorer Class People Pay Definitely Less
CHARGES EXPLAINED
Replying on behalf of the Govern- ment, the Financial Secretary said: I should like, to begin with, to re- fer to the closing words of Mr. Lo's speech. He refers to the difficulties of reconciling the views of different; Government departments. In this question it is not only a matter of reconciling the views and interests Government depart- of different ments. There are a wide variety of interests
the among
whole interests of
munity,
com-
landlords,
tenants, Peak residents and residents and on the lower levels, domestic
and any scheme trade consumers, for water finance is bound to be imperfect from the point of view of I can- any one of these interests. not help, therefore, to answer to satisfaction of the everybody's criticisms which have been made. In practically every issue which has been raised in this Council and in every discussion on this subject it has been
to
the take necessary balance of advantage.
Secondly, Mr. Lo made reference to the statement that the views ex- pressed by the District Watch Com- mittee and the Chinese Chamber of Commerce had been taken into con- sideration in modifying the proposals,
doubt and expressed some
as to whether they had been really con- sidered. But I can assure him they
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