XN000022-1973-02-13 — Page 12

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Tuesday, February 13, 1973

"You are businessmen and taxpayers, and you may well say 'this

is all very well, but can we really pay for it?'. No doubt the Financial

Secretary will be speaking about this when he opens his budget, but

the short answer is 'Yes, certainly on present assumptions and on present

projections'. All this really means is that provided our economy and

consequently our revenue continues to expand as we expect it to, the

targets are realistic.

"Let me put this rather differently. Hong Kong's industrialisation

and prosperity have been achieved against tremendous odds. The phenomenon

has certainly surprised the world, but it may also, a little, have surprised

us, the people of Hong Kong. To some extent our thinking may have been

affected in the past by a prudent doubt as to whether this prosperity would

last. I have no doubt that we should plan on the assumption of continued

prosperity. I am sure that this is what a responsible group like yourselves

and the people of Hong Kong would wish your Government to do, and I am

sure that it is the right way to keep prosperous.

Community Spirit

"I am always impatient of pessimists.

*We have of course in Hong Kong very substantial resources of money

and production, of services and expertise, and of human ingenuity and resilience.

Recent months have shown that we also have another resource

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community spirit.

It has always been apparent in the extraordinarily wide participation in

charitable enterprises and in times of emergency or disaster. But in the

campaign to clean Hong Kong it has emerged as a force which stood ready to

assist in dealing with a large and intractible community problem; and it has

achieved striking results. Great credit for the result is due to the organising

committee, the Cleansing Department. the Information Services and the area

/committees,