XN000022-1996-02-14 — Page 6

By way of response to the Honourable Selina Chow, perhaps I will make one particular point regarding deficits and interests and loans related to the Companies Registry. The point was made that the Registry would be operating at a deficit without the fee increases on the ground that without the repayment of interest or the loan to the Registry by the government there would be no deficit. The point here is that the Registry is operating at arm's length from the government and is financed partly by a loan from the government. If it is to operate on a quasi-commercial basis as intended, then it is to be expected that it should pay interest on any loans. The Registry were to be given free money on no interest loans, then in financial terms it would make no sense for the government to establish it in the first place. And I am sure we all recall that the setting-up of the trading fund system for the Companies Registry was passed by this council as recently as 1993.

The objective of funding services in this way is to enable those services to respond more effectively to the needs of their users by giving management the financial flexibility to run the services in a more commercial way.

Mr President, the last point I wish to make is this, this Order and the related legislative amendments in fact constitute part of a package of fee proposals in respect of the Companies Registry, two elements of which Members were good enough earlier to support this afternoon and I therefore look forward to your continued support, and to approve the fee revisions.

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Limited Partnerships Ordinance Order

Following is the speech by the Secretary for Financial Services, Mr Rafae! Hui, in the motion on the Limited Partnerships Ordinance (Amendment of Schedule) Order 1996 in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):

Mr President,

I will only make one point and that is this is again like the previous motion, the increase is needed so as to enable the Companies Registry operating under the trading fund system to continue to develop and to upgrade to meet demands from the users. Not to have the increase will of course means the tax payers would be subsidising the users, although the users themselves are very keen in fact to have the new developments and the new improvements which would be quite different from what they were used to many years ago almost the Keynesian conditions inside our Companies Registry, and therefore I would continue to urge Members to support the fee adjustment. Thank you.

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