XN000022-1972-09-15 — Page 2

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Friday, September 15, 1972

Here the Committee again stressed that it regarded the company as

The Committee said, however,

"primarily responsible for the whole situation".

that the present Board of Directors of the Liu Chong Hing Bank had shown a fair

degree of responsibility since the date on which the Chong Hing Mansion was

declared dangerous.

It also pointed out that the criticism of the bank only

applied to the former management.

Commenting on the first part of the report a Government spokesman

said, today that the principal owners of the building had already made ex-gratia

payments and assisted tenants and small shop owners of the building, and this

assistance had been accepted by all concerned.

The bank had also helped a number of non-domestic tenants with additional

payments, credit facilities, loans at low interest rates or alternative

accommodation.

The spokesman said that in view of this it had been decided that no

further Government assistance was necessary.

Conclusions

In the second part of the report, the Committee reached three main

conclusions:-

a.

that the provisions of the Buildings Ordinance are adequate to ensure that a building is not occupied until an occupation permit has been issued. However, it found that the value of

the permits in indicating that the building was

safe largely depended on the reliance to be

placed on the certificates of authorised architects and registered contractors as to which we (the Committee) have strong doubts".

/b. The