TNAG-0445-FCO40-510-Discussions-with-Sir-Murray-MacLehose--Governor-of-Hong-Kong-1974 — Page 131

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CONFIDENTIAL

ready to pay more for a degree of privacy and comfort in the housing to be built under the new 10 year plan?* Could there not perhaps be a greater readiness to borrow for capital projects to release resources from the recurrent budget for accelerated improvements in education, medical services and social welfare, for example? These are questions that go far beyond this report but they are the crux of whether prosperity can be shared in the future in Hong Kong to a greater extent than it is now.

21 March 1974

Foreign & Commonwealth Office London SW1

Foggon

Overseas Labour Adviser

The 1969 Survey carried out by the University of Hong Kong showed that rents in public housing in Hong Kong averaged less than 10% of median household incomes (6% in Resettlement Estates) compared with over 20% among those with comparable incomes in the private sector.

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CONFILEMELAT