3
95
annexed
Hong Kong and Kowloon Hotels and Boarding Houses Association to
Government for forwarding to the Secretary of State praying that the
Ordinance be disallowed. Such petition was presented after failure by
the Hotels Association to secure Government's agreement to defer the
Second and subsequent stages of the Bill pending petition to the
Secretary of State. The petition which is being forwarded contemporan-
eously with this report is discussed in the Governor's covering despatch.
7. During this interval other representations and criticisms of
the Bill, as read a first time and published, were also received.
consequence amendments to the Bill which seemed to constitute
improvement were prepared.
copy of which is annexed to this report, which was circulated to members
Such amendments are set out in a Note, a
of Legislative Council in advance of the Second reading.
In
All amendments
set out in such Note, being amendments to the Regulations appearing as
a Schedule to the Ordinance, were moved in Committee and were all
accepted and are incorporated in the Ordinance under report.
8. On the Second reading of the Bill a brief debate took place in
Legislative Council. One member (Sir Man Kam Lo) only opposed the
Second reading. He accepted the necessity for control. His opposition
was based merely on objection to the principle proposed by the
Committee, and reproduced in the Legislation, whereby percentages of
accommodation are required to be reserved for Hong Kong residents in
the hotels specified in the First Schedule to the Regulations in the
Schedule to the Ordinance. It will be appreciated, however, that
provision requiring reservation of a percentage of accommodation is
essential if control of rates in the interest of Hong Kong residents
is to be effectively enforced sinee In the absence of any such
reservation it would be open to any hotel affected consistently to deny
accommodation to persons qualifying as Hong Kong residents and so leave
itself free to allot its accommodation exclusively to transient guests
and at uncontrolled rates.
9. The legislation under report, apart from the attitude of the Hotels Association, has had a mixed, but, on the whole, a favourable
by reception by public opinion as indicated/leading articles and
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Private notes are available after approval.