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JUNE 26, 1969
FAR EASTERN ECONOMIC REVIEW
RECEIVED IN REGISTRY No: 51
-2 JUL 1969
HONGKONG AFFAIRS
The Insolence of Office
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operating costs similar to the bus com- panies' because of their new obligations to, spend money on adequate insurance and maintenance.
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Secondly and much more significant, when "moral" obligations are invoked, the bus companies' services to the public could do with careful scrutiny. The mini-
JUST what does 'the Hongkong Govern- ment think it is about? The decision to spend public funds on fulfilling a "moral" obligation to the bus companies for the damage which may be done to their trade by the minibuses demanded a great deal more explanation and justises flourish because of the failure of fication than was offered in Legislative Council last week. At least two points could be argued with considerable validity against any such compensation scheme. In the first place, the minibuses are not suddenly being legalised; the activities of, most of them have been recognised as legitimate since a Supreme Court decision last year. Thus the bus companies cannot complain about the new minibus legisla- tion. The law will now simply attempt to regulate the minibuses, curbing their competition with conventional bus ser vices by restricting the areas in which they operate and forcing them to incur
the as companies to provide services of the quality and convenience which a large section of the community is prepared to pay for. The need for minibuses is amply demonstrated by the expansion of their fleets; why did the bus companies apparently refuse to become involved in such operations themselves when the minibus boom best began? If it
the
case that the two bus companies volun tarily declined to undertake this service, on what grounds can they seek compen- sation from the public they decline.to serve?
The worst aspect of this outrageous
case does not involve the bus companies themselves. They cannot be held res ponsible for the manner in which the administration chose to arrogate to itself “ the privilege of deciding to pay compen- sation without even pretending to have. regard to the public's views in this mat- ter. (And on a purely practical point, it is pertinent to inquire why the question of compensation was not linked to the new royalty arrangements.) The authori- ties are prepared to slavishly kowtow to popular prejudice on such social policies as gambling and law reform; on issues of commercial policy, the Government prefers to act with all the insolence of office. The bus compensation announce- ment like the Government's participa- tion in the cross-harbour tunnel one more lamentable illustration of the administration's penchant for blandly de- ciding policy on matters of grave public importance without debate whenever it suits administrative convenience.
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WAGE DEMANDS: Fears that rising wages may price Hongkong out of world markets are exaggerated. Bigger pay packets are made possible by higher productivity in export industries and mounting overseas sales. The situation could change if the new joint consultative committees in industry shift the balance of power i in wage negotiations to the workers.
Their Pound of Flesh
By Peter Cook
HONGKONG is in the ridiculous position for an Asian
country of being desperately short of new workers to serve its export boom. Three years ago, manufacturers were so alarmed at this situation that they urged the Government to permit an inflow of immigrants from Macao. This cam paign got nowhere, and industrialists today are more worried
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than ever, particularly as the progressive reduction of working hours will strain available labour resources still further. The labour shortage in manufacturing industries could be relieved if the underemployed who now work in retailing, hawking' and other service industries could be attracted to the factories. Higher productivity in manufacturing would also permit.
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