TNAG-1361-FCO40-1807-Hong-Kong-Hansard-reports-and-minutes-of-the-meetings-of-the-1985 — Page 86

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Translation

DRAFT SPEECH BY HON ANDREW SO, OBE, JP

LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

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27.3.85

Budget Debate 1985

Sir,

The people of Hong Kong are getting more and more

interested in public affairs. The "Policy Address Day" and the

"Budget Day" are now important events. They are preceded by all sorts of speculations and, when the time arrives, people

will listen attentively to the speeches on the radio. Some would even attend the Legislative Council meetings in person.

For those whose guesses happen to coincide with the outcome, there is cause for jubilation. They will say to themselves that great men think alike and are convinced that they possess what it takes to be governors and financial

secretaries. For those who have miss the score, the Government

is blamed for being short-sighted in introducing measures which

will strangulate commerce and industry, rob the poor to pay the rich and squeeze the "sandwich class". There are yet others who will also blame the Government for wasting their time and

effort for filling up the petrol tanks of their cars, renewing

their vehicle licences and stocking up on cigarettes and

imported liquors in vain. Forums will be held by the mass

media and community groups to discuss the Budget Speech. In addition to this, members of the public can also voice their opinions by writing to the letters-to-the-Editor columns of the press, calling up the open lines or simply airing their views through street interviews. There will be articles and comic strips in newspapers and magazines and in their lucid, vivid and lively style of expression, they talk freely about the Budget Speech.

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