HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
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by the Government to investigate and to advise, they deemed it their duty to make the recommendation. This recommendation did not seem to them to be either arbitrary or harsh, in as much as the suggested ratios between residents and transients correspond closely to the ratios between these two classes before the war.
In their report the Committee stated that this recommendation was contrary to the practice followed in other parts of the world, that it would interfere with the normal course of the hotel industry, but that it was justified by the present exceptional circumstances. It has been argued that since such a method has not been adopted in the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and elsewhere, the hotels in Hong Kong should not be shackled with the restrictions recommended by the Committee. I would now refer to the phrase used in our Report-"the present exceptional circumstances". What are those "exceptional circumstances"? An acute housing shortage does exist in the United Kingdom and the United States of America, but the position there cannot be in any way compared to that pre- vailing in Hong Kong. Elsewhere the influx of aliens is regulated, whereas here, every house, every day, without any let or hindrance, there have been and are pouring into our territory a countless and unceasing number of refugees, rich and poor. These refugees have created a housing situation which, I believe, has no parallel in any other part of the world at the present moinent. Who are the sufferers from this inflow? Our permanent residents. And the recommenda- tions which the Committee have made are designed to protect one section of those people-those who have no choice but to live in hotels -and to ensure that some accommodation is reserved for them at prices they can afford to pay.
It has been contended that the question of principle involved in these recommendations should not be ignored. But exceptional measures must be, and have been, taken to meet exceptional con- ditions, for the good of the general public. For instance, we have price and rent control. Because of this, Sir, the Committee have ventured to go beyond their terms of reference and make the recom- mendations now being accepted.
Hox. P. S. CASSIDY:-Your Excelleney, my Honourable Friend who has just sat down has dealt with the criticisms of the Honourable Sir M. K. Lo, and I should like to approach the question from perhaps a different angle, at the same time I should like to acknowledge the handsome tribute paid by Sir M. K. Lo to the Committee, and I would like to say that it was a pleasure to serve under the skilled chairmanship of my Honourable Friend there. Despite the fact that we were quite a mixed bunch we arrived at our conclusions with a minimum of dissension. I think we were a pretty good working
team.
I feel I ought to be standing here in a white sheet confessing that I have sinned against the light. I am all for freedom, in business as in other walks of life. I do not like controls and although some
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