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With a view to ascertaining the reactions of business and other interests towards a Dra Ordinance de si ne l to implement the recommendations in Sir David Owen's Report, I met on the 3rd April, 1946, a small committee comprised of representatives of the General and Chinese Chambers of Commerce, Messrs. Jardine, Matheson & Co. Ita and Butterfield and Swi reg, the Bishop of Victoria, the Commodore and the Harbour Muster.
Copies of the Draft Ordinance and of the recommendations in the Owen Report had been circulated, (copies herewith).
On the part of those representing business interests the re
was a marked absence of any desire to volunteer cpinions and their views were in general only expressed in reply to leading questions.
The business representatives stated that they were unaware that the attitude
e members of the General Chamber of Commerce hed undergone any change from that expressed in the Chamber's letter addressed to the Government on the 6th June, 1941, of which a copy is attached.
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They reiterated the need for limiting the functions of the Trust to "control" as distinct from operation" and emphasized that there should be no buying out of private interests as there had been at Singapore.
Apprehension was pressed that there was danger of the building up of a large and expensive staff and, as indicative of this, they pointed to the salary of Mr. Colman, which was apparently much in excess of anything envisaged by the Chamber This danger they regarded as imminent, Mr. Colman haring in conversation led them to believe that he wished to have a semarate staff even during the three-year ex rimental period. In this connection they stressed the fact that the majority of the proposed functions of the Trust we re already being carried out by the staffs of Government departments.
A question whether anyone knew of any general feeling that the recommendations of the Report should be adopted elicited only the answer that there was no feeling that if the Report were not adopted the Port would cease to function and that if, on further consideration, the Report was rejected, this would not adversely affect anyone as no one had based any plans on it.
It was suested that positive advantages of a Trust would lie in ita ability to plan ahead and its regarding matters from a different angle to that of a Governm nt department whose main pre-occupation would be the collection of revenue. Hope was also expressed that the Trust might prove sufficiently influential to achieve the long-desired removal of Naval establishments from the water front of Kowloon and to secure the expedition of ordinary conservancy requirements.
On the question whether the functions of the Trust might not be equally well performed by a responsible Government officer with the backing of a Consultative Committee constituted at the
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same level/
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