14. The tendency of each part of the bureaucracy is to expand not only with increasing population or the development of new areas, but into new fields of activity. This is not necessarily a bad feature but it does mean that there is a continuing need for the appraisal of priorities.
From policies to constitution.
15. To maintain the stability and prosperity of Hong Kong, private enterprise and private economic activities must be encouraged and promoted; government intervention must be severly limited; taxation must be kept low. The constitution for the Special Administrative Region must be developed smoothly from that which exists today in Hong Kong for nothing could be more damaging to confidence and stability than sudden or extreme changes. The structure needs to be built on present institutions not on totally new and untried concepts. To achieve these aims the following suggestions are made.
(i) Social services should be implemented only when they can be afforded. There should be no free lunches beyond
our means.
(ii) Democratic methods of selecting a government should be introduced gradually in the near future. The immediate introduction of a simple one-man-one-vote system to an electorate which, even now, shows considerable reluctance to be involved, would create an irresistible pressure on politicians to try to gain votes unfairly or to promise all kinds of social welfare, in order to please the crowd. This would then lead to social unrest, and to ever increasing taxation to maintain exorbitantly expensive social services, and would retard economic growth.
(iii) A simple western type constitution would not provide the continuity required yet it is important to move towards a legislature "constituted by elections" (Annex I Article 1). The solution proposed is to add to the Legislative and Executive Councils, with powers somewhat similar to those now exercised, a Council of Government Advisers in order to strengthen stability.
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