CO129-616-6 Hotels Ordinance- 1949 21-2-1949 - 21-2-1949 — Page 36

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proper consideration being given to it by

the Legislative Council and without opportunity

for the Petitioners to organise opposition.

(h) thus an important industry is placed under Auch

control that it may run at a loss and it would

be both impolitic and unjust not to disallow

the ordinance and allow the whole matter to

be reconsidered.

4. This concluded Mr. Fitzgerald's statement of his

clients' case and there was then some discussion.

Mr. Sidebotham stressed the housing shortage and extreme

overcrowding prevailing in Hong Kong and said that the

object of the Ordinance was to protect the Hong Kong resident from having to pay for hotel accommodation at exorbitant rates limited only by what the wealthy Chinese refugees were prepared to pay. With the rapid movement of events in China and growing pressure on hotel accommodation by refugees arriving in the Colony it was

necessary to act quickly and take practical steps to

assist the bona fide Hong Kong resident. The hotels

were in fact doing very good business as a result of

these conditions and only 18 out of 83 of them were

subject to any control. If control were being harshly administered or were not working smoothly, representations could be made to the Governor and would be carefully

considered.

In reply to Mr. de Comarmond, Mr. Fitzgerald agreed that if the Quartering Authority were assisted by an Advisory committee representing the hotel industry or if

Section 4 of the Ordinance were toned down his clients'

objection would be less. He said that though the financial position of hotels affected by the Regulations was not yet

clear and would of course vary in different cases, these

/hotels