CO129-582-7 Taxation 6-6-1939 - 5-2-1940 — Page 66

HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.

THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY seconded.

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HON. SIR HENRY POLLOCK.-Your Excellency,-I have no comments to make on the Budget for 1940-41.

In regard to the proposed War Gift to the Imperial Government, as a resident of the Colony for 51 years, during 29 years of which time I have served as a Member of this Council, I make no apology for treating the making of this gift from the point of view of the welfare of this Colony rather than from the point of view of contributing what must, whatever actual annual sum in dollars is remitted to the Imperial Government, be a mere mite in the War Expenditure of Great Britain.

In taking this view I am supported by the Right Honourable the Secretary of State for the Colonies who clearly, and wisely, told us that "there should be as little disturbance as possible with the Colony's current activities and development schemes, so long as revenue to finance them would be forthcoming."

It is our duty, therefore, in this Council, in considering the amount of dollars to be remitted to the Imperial Government as a gift, to look ahead beyond the immediate present, and to conserve our resources for "current activities and development schemes."

I am convinced that it would be inprudent finance to make an annual contribution to the Imperial Government of a larger sum than $3,000,000, in addition to the $6,000,000, per annum which we have to pay for our ordinary Military Contribution and to the sum of nearly 24 million dollars in respect of Defence and Special War Expenditure for 1940-41.

My reasons for holding this opinion are:

(1)

That nobody can foretell how long the present war will last, and, therefore, that we are not justified in mortgaging our financial future for an indefinite period of time by sending out of the Colony annually as a special War Gift more than three million dollars.

(2) That the total amount required to be voted eventually to complete the following items in Public Works Extraordinary for 1940-41, namely, items 11, 14, 15, 19, 21, 22 and 23, is over three million three hundred thousand dollars, whereas the amounts now being voted for commencing those works total no more than two hundred and fifteen thousand dollars. The big difference between the above amounts will have to be made up by the tax payer in future Budgets unless we are to leave those Works in a state of suspended animation for the wholly unknown and uncertain duration of the war.

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