XN000022-1996-05-30 — Page 16

14

-

But I do realise, not least because people have said it to me when I have gone out on district visits, that what people are concerned about in a sense is less the small figure for this year than the figures which they see for future years which they think are more substantial and which give them the impression that they are never going to get to the end of the road with this issue. So we have to explain to people and we have to discuss with the Honourable lady and other representatives of the community in this Council how we can stick to principles which I think the community by and large accepts, without hitting individual families too hard.

Ms Chan Yuen-han (in Chinese); Mr President, I wish to add, last year we started with a sewage charge and at that time people already voiced their concerns and in fact it is not actually a very, very small amount, and it is something that can really give you a bump, and in fact they will have to pay $10 more. And if for the whole season they only pay $100, then $10 actually is quite a big amount and so when people voice their opposition to the sewage charge it is probably something that arose out of a wrong calculation and also in relation to the Trading Fund, so it is not a very meagre amount as depicted by the Governor a moment ago.

Governor: No, I do not think it is fair to say that we have got the figures wrong, because the increase for this year which has been proposed, if one also allows for inflation, is about what we were saying it would be 14-16 months ago. But I would just like to remind the honourable lady that 77% of domestic households pay less than $15 of sewage charges per month. The honourable lady may think I am wrong but my hunch is that people are less concerned about that figure than they are about what the figure may be next year or the year after or the year after that, and it is in that area that I think we actually have to discuss with members of the Council how to accommodate our principles to what is going to be acceptable in the community.

I do not wish to be too tough in defending these principles. I do understand what the Honourable lady is saying and I can assure the Honourable lady that the points that she has made this afternoon, the points which other Honourable members have made are all points that have been made to me personally on the street, in people's flats, and most recently in a Well-Woman Clinic.

Mr Chan Wing-chan (in Chinese): Mr President, I am also on sewage charges. Mr Governor, you had two summit meetings on employment and yet they have not been too effective and recently we have got an unemployment figure and it is rising and we have about 90,000 people unemployed. Last year we started to levy sewage charges and also a Trade Effluent Surcharge and the people in the restaurant business experienced hardship. Now we have an increase in such charges and operating costs are rising and that will be the death-knell for the restaurant business and a lot of restaurants have to close down and a lot of people lose their jobs. So, Mr Governor, will the Government consider injecting funds into the Trading Fund so that there won't be

any increases so that the burden on the restaurant business can be reduced? And if your answer is no, does that mean that you are unconcerned about the hardship of our community?