XN000022-1995-10-19 — Page 13

- 12.

It's an irresistible temptation when one has a Financial Secretary who gives his speeches the titles of movies - 'Silence of the Lambs', 'Basic Instinct' and so on - it's an irresistible temptation to do the same, and I've struggled to find the right title for today. I thought at first that maybe I should choose 'The Empire Strikes Back'. But at the end of the day, I've opted for 'Frankenstein meets the Wolfmen'.

Anyway, thank you for your hospitality today, and thank you for the chance you've given me to make a few remarks and answer your questions.

Hong Kong always fascinates and sometimes surprises. I must say that I was a bit surprised by some of the comments on my speech to the Legislative Council last week. I had assumed it to be a truth universally acknowledged in the Hong Kong business community that the Government should not attempt to manage the economy.

* That entrepreneurs make better business decisions than civil servants.

* That public expenditure rates should be low, taxes lower still and government

kept small.

* That the very essence of our economic way of life is to trust the markets and

to let competition take command.

* That Adam Smith's "invisible hand" of the market is much to be preferred to

the dead hand of government interference and over regulation.

I took these precepts to be common ground between the business community and the Government. I took them to be a fundamental part of the consensus which has helped to make Hong Kong, to quote one recent international assessment, the freest economy in the world.

Imagine my surprise, then, last Thursday morning. The previous day, I had delivered my fourth annual Policy Address and, as I am sure you will all recall, it received the usual chorus of joyous acclaim. What surprised me were the widely- quoted remarks, attributed to members of our business community, to the effect that the Government should attempt to "kick start" the economy, that the Government should attempt to spend its way to faster economic growth and to full employment.