XN000022-1973-03-14 — Page 11

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Wednesday, March 14, 1973

"Many land transactions are pure speculation without any

intention of development and there is a tendency among certain groups

to 'buy up' all the land they can lay their hands on," he said.

Turning to the rents situation, Mr. Wong outlined short and

long term plans to stop the rents spiral in domestic premises.

The short term plan envisaged:

Extending the security of tenure and rent control to include those of three-year leases.

Extending rateable value flats from $15,000 per year to a higher ceiling of possibly $25,000.

Implementing a limited increase per annum rather than by allowing as Rent Advisory Committee of the Rating and Valuation Department to allow rent increases of 15 per cent or more per year, and

Considering rent control for business premises limiting increases to not more than 10 per cent a year, as small shops and small firms were being forced out of business by landlords.

Mr. Wong anticipated that such a move was bound to result in the

usual outcry that any action to control rents would stunt building development.

But he pointed out that new buildings which had not been completed

would not be subject to rent control and he regarded an annual 10 per cent

increase in rentals "more than generous. H

In the long term, Mr. Wong advocated a new land policy involving

an opening up of the New Territories based on the maximum use of land,

even by diverting agricultural land on the assumption that China would be

the main supplier of Hong Kong's agricultural products.

/Accompanying