1959-03-25 — Page 1

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OFFICIAL REPORT OF PROCEEDINGS.

Meeting of 25th March, 1959.

PRESENT:

HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR (PRESIDENT)

SIR ROBERT BROWN BLACK, K.C.M.G., O.B.E.

HIS EXCELLENCY THE COMMANDER BRITISH FORCES

LIEUTENANT-GENERAL SIR EDRIC MONTAGUE BASTYAN, K.B.E., C.B. THE HONOURABLE THE COLONIAL SECRETARY

MR. EDMUND BRINSLEY TEESDALE, M.C. (Acting).

THE HONOURABLE THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

MR. ARTHUR RIDEHALGH, Q.C.

THE HONOURABLE THE SECRETARY FOR CHINESE AFFAIRS

MR. JOHN CRICHTON MCDOUALL.

THE HONOURABLE THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY

MR. ARTHUR GRENFELL CLARKE, C.M.G.

THE HONOURABLE PATRICK CARDINALL MASON SEDGWICK (Commissioner of Labour).

THE HONOURABLE ALLAN INGLIS

(Director of Public Works).

DR. THE HONOURABLE DAVID JAMES MASTERTON MACKENZIE, C.M.G., O.B.E. (Director of Medical and Health Services).

THE HONOURABLE COLIN GEORGE MERVYN MORRISON

(Director of Urban Services).

DR. THE HONOURABLE CHAU SIK NIN, C.B.E.

THE HONOURABLE CHARLES EDWARD MICHAEL TERRY, O.B.E. THE HONOURABLE NGAN SHING-KWAN, O.B.E.

THE HONOURABLE KWOK CHAN, O.B.E.

DR. THE HONOURABLE ALBERTO MARIA RODRIGUES, M.B.E., E.D. THE HONOURABLE JOHN DOUGLAS CLAGUE, C.B.E., M.C., T.D.

THE HONOURABLE HUGH DAVID MACEWEN BARTON, M.B.E.

MR. ANDREW MCDONALD CHAPMAN (Deputy Clerk of Councils).

ABSENT:

THE HONOURABLE LO MAN WAT, C.B.E.

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MINUTES.

The Minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 18th March, 1959, were confirmed.

PAPERS.

THE COLONIAL SECRETARY, by Command of His Excellency the Governor, laid upon the table the following papers: —

Subject. G.N. No.

Ferries Ordinance.

Excluded Ferries (Amendment) Regulations, 1959 ..................... A. 17.

Ferries Ordinance.

Excluded Ferries (Ma On Shan and Ho Tung Lau) (Amendment) Regulations, 1959 ................................................................. A. 18.

REPORT OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON THE

ESTIMATES FOR 1959-60.

Resumption of the debate on the motion for adoption of the Report of the Select Committee.

MR. C. G. M. MORRISON: —Your Excellency, my honourable Friends Dr. Chau and Mr. Ngan Shing-Kwan have stressed the urgent housing needs of those in the income groups below $300 a month and I would like to speak briefly about the Housing Authority's policy in the past and how it views this particular problem.

On its inception in 1954 the Authority set about considering how it could best meet the housing needs of those who could not afford to take up accommodation provided by private enterprise. In determining their policy the Authority proceeded on certain basic principles. Firstly dwellings should be completely self-contained homes for permanent Hong Kong residents. Secondly they should conform to good standards of building construction—an economy in the long run—and relevant health legislation, notably as regards air space. Thirdly they should possess reasonable amenities such as children's playgrounds and community centres. Fourthly it was assumed that tenants would be prepared to spend up to 20% of their incomes on rent and that self-contained accommodation could not be produced for less than about $60 per month.

These decisions appeared justified in the light of the information then available but it is now apparent that by proceeding on this basis the Authority would not be able to cater for the lowest income groups. Experience has also shown that a high proportion of potential tenants are not willing to devote 20% of their income to rent.

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The Members of the Authority are fully aware of the economic problems involved and the need to concentrate on the lowest income groups. They realize that housing densities—1550 to the acre in the North Point Housing Estate as against a planned maximum of 200 in the County of London—are astronomic but are anxious to further reductions in rentals by whatever means are practicable. I think that most would be reluctant to effect economies by the introduction of communal ablution and kitchen facilities, but this is being considered. The latest brief to the Architects for the Clearwater Bay scheme calls for flats for those in the 300-500 dollar income group with rents on a basis of 10-12% of income as opposed to the 20% in the past.

Under present arrangements and within existing legislation, it is probably impossible to lower the cost of sound self-contained accommodation much below about $60 per month and if rents are to be reduced to what those in the lowest income brackets can afford, it may have to be by one or both of two ways: —

(a) by lowering standards to those of Resettlement with communal facilities and air space much lower than that required by modern health legislation, or

(b) alternatively, or possibly in addition, the Authority may have to approach Government for reconsideration of the terms on which both land and capital are made available.

These matters are discussed in the Report of the Special Committee on Housing, and I can assure my honourable Friends that they are also very much in the forefront of the Authority's thinking.

DR. D. J. M. MACKENZIE: —The Honourable the Senior Unofficial Member and the Honourable Dr. Rodrigues have touched upon a number of problems of major importance about which further comment is warranted. Both have referred to the School Health Service and to tuberculosis.

The Working Party set up by Government to examine the School Health Service and to make recommendations for the future has now completed its task and the final report is expected within the next few weeks. I cannot today anticipate the contents of the report or the recommendations but honourable Members can rest assured that the urgency of the situation is fully appreciated and that the problem is having the urgent attention it warrants.

The social background to tuberculosis, notably the problems of housing and overcrowding and their effect on the transmission of tuberculosis, is a long term measure which is being tackled energetically. Similarly the outpatient treatment of infective cases and the major preventive effort of vaccination of babies and young children with B.C.G. are being expanded and are giving encouraging results. Nevertheless

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we certainly cannot afford to have any leanings towards complacency and we have no intention of doing so. The Government vaccinating teams visit regularly all public and private hospitals dealing with maternity cases and private midwives can obtain B.C.G. vaccine free on request. We depend thereafter on the voluntary response of parents and guardians to submit as many newborn babies as possible for vaccination.

A statutory obligation to have newborn babies vaccinated with B.C.G. would be perhaps in the public interest but it is not a desirable measure and I would not wish to recommend it at this stage. Hong Kong has been a notable example of the results of co-operation in the prevention of smallpox and I am sure the comments of my honourable Friends will do much to bring again to the notice of the public the urgent need for full co-operation in the prevention of child tuberculosis and of diphtheria.

My Senior Unofficial Colleague has suggested that there is a great need for a specialized Health Education Section within the Medical and Health Department. There is a great deal of intensive and continuing health education being done at the ante-natal clinics, the Maternal and Child Health clinics, by Health Visitors, by Tuberculosis Visitors, by School Health staff and by inoculation teams within the Department. The Industrial Health and the Urban Services Health staff also do intensive work in this field. The co-ordination of these efforts by a specialized professional unit, using modern techniques modified to suit local conditions, will be given the careful consideration it merits.

As a result of a study of the situation which existed in Singapore last year Government has decided to set up a Poliomyelitis Virus Unit. This Unit will not be equipped to manufacture an oral vaccine which will have to be obtained elsewhere. However, this vaccine will not be released to us unless there are the virus laboratory facilities in the Colony equipped for the supervision and control of a vaccination campaign. In co-operation with the University of Hong Kong this Virus Unit is being established in the University Department of Pathology. A Government doctor and laboratory Technician have just returned from Singapore where they have been working in the University of Malaya Department of Bacteriology for the past three months, gaining first hand experience of the laboratory techniques necessary for the use and control of the oral vaccine. Certain essential special equipment has been ordered and should arrive in the Colony shortly. Thereafter Government will be in the position to provide realistic epidemic control and preventive measures against poliomyelitis.

The proposal to establish a School of Dentistry in Hong Kong has been discussed with the University authorities and recommendations have been made to Government regarding the preliminaries essential to

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an undertaking of this magnitude. Here I would like to pay tribute to the work of the Hong Kong Dental Society which has given much time, interest and useful advice in this connexion. Implementation of the recommendations must await the provision of adequate facilities for pre-clinical instruction at the University and this aspect is being studied by the University authorities. Meantime we are indebted to the Universities of Adelaide and Melbourne who have taken a number of our scholarship students despite the demands made locally on the limited facilities for dental education at these two centres.

A course of training for dental mechanics is an essential corollary to the establishment of a Dental School. The Standing Committee on Technical Education and Vocational Training recommended in December 1957 that certain new courses should be established one of which was a course for dental mechanics. Since then this matter has been the subject of negotiations with the Education Department with a view to starting, as a first step, evening classes in Dental Technology. Proposals to start such evening classes are now being considered by Government. The Hong Kong Dental Society has agreed to sponsor students and to give such teaching and technical assistance as is necessary to get a course of training established.

The population problem in relation to Family Planning is one which is being intensively examined in neighbouring countries where oral contraceptives are under extensive trial. The Hong Kong Family Planning Association participated in the Conference recently held in Delhi and the information gained there and the scientific contacts will undoubtedly be of assistance to the Association in its consideration of our local problem.

The Honourable Dr. Rodrigues has referred to the part private medical practitioners could play in bolstering the medical service provided by Government, both in the School Health Service and in the provision of clinic facilities.

New major outpatient clinics have been approved in principle for Tsuen Wan, Kwun Tong and Yau Ma Tei; the work will go out to Architects soon. A site has been set aside at Shau Kei Wan for a new polyclinic there. The clinics at Kennedy Town and Aberdeen which are to be donated by the Jockey Club are already in the planning stage and, in fact, the drawings for the Kennedy Town Clinic are now almost ready. A number of smaller clinics for the New Territories have also been approved in principle. The opening of the new Shek Kip Mei Polyclinic has resulted in a drop in the attendances at the Sham Shui Po Public Dispensary and Li Cheng Uk. When the large new polyclinic at Yau Ma Tei materializes it is considered that the Sham Shui Po area will be adequately served; it will certainly be better provided with clinics than most other areas.

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As honourable Members are aware Government proposes to introduce legislation for the registration of clinics maintained by charitable bodies and other associations. The registration of these clinics will give a much clearer picture of the clinic service provided by all organizations engaged in this work. The comparative needs can then be assessed and the points where bolstering is essential can be defined accurately. Meantime I would like to suggest to my honourable Friend that the Medical Associations might be willing to prepare an outline of the arrangements that they consider would ensure that the inadequacies could be met, with considerable saving to Government. This might well include their suggestions for a more adequate cover for emergency services at nights, on Sundays and public holidays. Any proposals put forward will be given full consideration.

My honourable Friend has also made reference to planning, and a brief outline of other major projects in hand would not be out of place. During the next three to four years some 3,000 additional hospital beds will be provided in the Colony by Government and Government-sponsored agencies. This total includes the Queen Elizabeth Hospital of 1,320 beds, the new Kwong Wah Hospital of 1,230 beds, the Castle Peak Hospital of 1,000 beds for mental patients and extensions to the Queen Mary Hospital which will include a further 200 beds. The training facilities provided for all grades of staff, particularly nurses, in these new institutions are designed to ensure that not only the immediate staff needs are met but those of still further expansion. While we cannot look too far ahead with such major projects in hand nevertheless consideration has already been given to the next stage which takes into account the needs of the New Territories and Shau Kei Wan. A site has been reserved for some years now in Shau Kei Wan for another large general hospital for Hong Kong Island; in the New Territories consideration has also been given to the siting of a similar general hospital centrally situated to serve the agricultural population and the rapidly expanding industrial centre of Tsuen Wan. The reprovisioning of the present Lai Chi Kok Hospital will also be necessary and the site for a new Infectious Diseases Hospital and Quarantine Station is at present being discussed.

When the Queen Elizabeth Hospital is completed the existing Kowloon Hospital is to be retained for the treatment of tuberculosis so that there will be a major tuberculosis institution in Kowloon. Plans for its further expansion for this purpose, as necessity dictates, have already been considered and a new block containing theatres and two additional surgical wards for immediate general use is due to be constructed this year. Provision for maternity cases has not been forgotten and new clinics in areas such as Aberdeen, Tsuen Wan and Kwun Tong will contain accommodation for those cases not requiring treatment in the larger specialist centres in Hong Kong and Kowloon.

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This is necessarily a brief outline but I hope it will give a clear indication of how the problems are being tackled and that the approach is as realistic as possible in relation to the local needs and resources.

MR. A. INGLIS: —Your Excellency in your address to this Council you reviewed the magnitude of the Works Programme, accomplished, in progress, and committed. My honourable Friend the Financial Secretary in his speech, however, tended to emphasize our shortcomings in under spending our allocation for Public Works Non-recurrent. He expressed the hope that since I had revised my ideas on the amount of work that could be done in the 12 month period we might next year spend most of the money allocated to us. I should like to mention that the revision of ideas was mutual. With the co-operation of my honourable Friend agreement was reached that it should no longer be a “crime” to over-spend on an individual project in a given time so long as the overall estimate was reasonably accurate. This is a great step forward. (Laughter). It shows appreciation of the difference between carrying out large engineering projects in the field and drawing a red line across a page of a ledger at the end of the financial year.

Dr. the Honourable S. N. Chau has suggested that we could "wriggle out", (I use his own words), of the dilemma of back-log of works to be carried out, by making use of private firms. In the current year the total value of the work farmed out to private architects was of the order of $66 million. In the estimates under discussion approval has already been given to appoint private architects for works totalling a further $70 million. The policy of farming out the work to local firms came into effect only in very recent years as is reflected in the figures of actual expenditure. The expenditure on works entrusted to private architects in 1958/59 was under $7 million and in 1959/60 this is expected to increase to $16 million. It is clear therefore that there will be an appreciable increase year by year, and some time must elapse before the architects complete all the work already assigned to them. There is no reason to doubt that the policy of engaging private architects will continue. On the engineering side we have been obliged to farm out an even greater proportion of our works. As to lowering of costs which the honourable Member suspects might result I am prepared to take issue with him; my experience does not support this belief.

The honourable Member inquired as to how many P.W.D. officers were included in the 51 local officers who were to be sent overseas in 1958 for specialized training. The short answer is nil. At the same time I should explain that we have an arrangement with the Institution of Civil Engineers whereby Engineering Graduates from the University of Hong Kong may be apprenticed to me. They receive practical training within the Department in accordance with set rules laid down by the Institution which enables them to sit their examinations and obtain

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their full qualification of A.M.I.C.E. 27 Graduates have been admitted of whom 13 have been promoted to the rank of Assistant Engineer and one to the post of Engineer. Nevertheless I concur with Dr. the Honourable S. N. Chau that it is desirable where possible for these officers to gain further experience overseas.

The Honourable Ngan Shing-Kwan referred to the slow start in the formation of the Development Division and indicated that a considerable period will elapse before we reap the benefits. The Honourable Dr. Rodrigues also made oblique reference to this. I agree with them but the difficulty was one of recruitment hence beyond our control. In the interval Government engaged Consultants who have prepared, or are in the course of preparing eight major schemes of which five are for satellite towns. The delay in establishing this office therefore has not held up progress.

The Development Division has now built up to six Professional Officers and nine Technicians and we propose to recruit in 1959/60 three more Professional Officers and eleven Technicians.

Work that the Development Division has in hand includes Reclamation at Kwun Tong which will result in the formation of 90 acres of building land. The office has completed feasibility reports on a further extension of Kwun Tong; a Link Road between Foothills Road and Castle Peak Road; development of the Ho Man Tin area and development for the New Kowloon Military Hospital site and surrounding areas. They have also prepared development proposals for Lai Chi Kok and Kau Wa Keng.

1 am amazed, Sir, at the common use of the word "delay" or "delays" as it affects engineering projects and other development in Hong Kong. I am not complacent and I appreciate the urgency and magnitude of our problems which you, Sir, have outlined in successive speeches. However, when people talk of delays in Hong Kong I would ask them to pause, think for a moment, and compare our accomplishments with those of any other country.

The Honourable Dr. Rodrigues dwelt at some length on the subject of forward planning, a term so broad that it covers a much wider field than that of the Planning Section of the Crown Lands and Survey Office. The Honourable Colonial Secretary will, I believe, touch briefly on this subject. The Planning Section, like the Development Section, and they are closely linked, suffered the same difficulty in recruitment of experienced and qualified men. I am pleased however to inform the honourable Member that one officer is now en route to the Colony, and it is hoped that another may be coming in a few months leaving only one vacancy.

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The Planning Section at present consists of 3 Professional Officers and 7 Technicians. They have provided us with a framework within which the works of other Branches of the P.W.D. and of other Department of Government are collated. This Section prepares the plans which are published by the Town Planning Board. It may be unfortunate that that is all the Public sees of the activities of the Planners. However they do have plans for the development of the more important districts of the Urban areas and the New Territories. These plans are subject to continual review and amendment dependent upon changing circumstances.

The Honourable Kwok Chan in making reference to the Colony's water problem rightly emphasized our difficulties in meeting an ever increasing demand. To do so we are having to seek sources further afield and additional means of storage. Further supplies in the future must undoubtedly be more expensive. Our inquiries towards the next step beyond the Shek Pik Scheme have developed to the stage where we have received a feasibility report on Plover Cove with tentative costs. A report on Hebe Haven is due shortly. We have also obtained some rough costs for producing fresh water from sea water using Atomic power. It would be premature to mention these costs at this meeting because the time factor and so many other considerations have bearing and require analysis. It is sufficient to say that the capital costs of future schemes whether they be storage of rainwater or the desalting of sea water will be enormous if they are to be of a scale which will keep up with the increasing demands. From the information so far obtained it is clear that the solution is yet well in the future. We are, however, using sea water on an ever-increasing scale for flushing purposes.

To summarize, from the engineering stand-point our problems are Water, Communications and Housing. These, in a land starved community, present considerable difficulty. None is insoluble but individually and collectively they require time, thought and very large sums of money.

THE ATTORNEY GENERAL: —Last week two honourable Members made mention of the Landlord and Tenant Ordinance. My honourable Friend, Dr. Chau, referred to the question of decontrol of both business and domestic premises, and said: "The Unofficial Members of Council have reached the view that the time has come when this thorny question should be re-opened and the Landlord and Tenant Ordinance again reviewed. My Unofficial Colleagues and I feel that the control of lower class domestic premises must still remain but that decontrol of business premises and higher grade domestic premises may now be feasible." Sir, honourable Members have been reminded that in August 1956 a Bill was introduced into this Council but was not proceeded with. The principal provisions of that Bill were, first of

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all, to permit increases of rent; secondly, to permit contracting out on and after the 1st April, 1957, in respect of domestic premises with a standard rent exceeding 199 dollars per month and all business premises. The third provision was to provide for decontrol on and after the 1st April, 1959, of domestic premises with a standard rent exceeding $199 per month and all business premises. As I have said, Sir, this Bill was not proceeded with, and the Colonial Secretary on the 5th December, 1956, made the following announcement. The announcement read as follows: —

"With Your Excellency's permission I wish to give notice that Government has decided to postpone the Second Reading of the Landlord and Tenant (Amendment) Bill for an indefinite period. This decision has been taken following upon representations by Unofficial Members of Council."

As Dr. Chau rightly said, this subject is a thorny one. Nevertheless, it would seem that perhaps the position should now be reviewed and this will be undertaken.

During the course of the debate last week, mention was made among other things of the penalties for offences by persons trafficking in drugs. The Dangerous Drugs Ordinance is at present under review and consideration will be given to the question whether the penalties in all cases are heavy enough.

My honourable Friend Mr. Terry thought it right to take to task those of us who are responsible for the preparation of legislation in this Colony. I think that his criticism was exaggerated and I propose to say a word or two in reply.

Mr. Terry, if I understood him aright, made two main points, first, that when laws are drafted more consideration should be given to making them applicable to the needs and circumstances of the Colony, and secondly, that we draftsmen should aim at simplicity. He also complained about ambiguity. All these points are constantly in the mind of the draftsmen but in the complexities of modern life, I am afraid that the circumstances are against us, and I quote some words of Lord Denning from a judgment when he was a Lord Justice of Appeal in the Court of Appeal in England. His words are as follows: —"Whenever a statute comes up for consideration it must be remembered that it is not within human powers to foresee the manifold sets of facts which may arise, and, even if it were, it is not possible to provide for them in terms free from all ambiguity. The English language is not an instrument of mathematical precision. Our literature would be much the poorer if it were. This is where the draftsmen of Acts of Parliament have often been unfairly criticized . . . . . It would certainly save the judges trouble if Acts of Parliament were drafted with divine

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prescience and perfect clarity." Well, Sir, so far as the use of the English language in the legal field is involved, I am content to let honourable Members choose between the views of Mr. Terry and those of Lord Denning.

As I have said, Mr. Terry's criticism is, in my opinion, exaggerated, and although he claimed that his example was not an isolated one, I suggest that it was a singularly bad one. If he will look through the laws of Hong Kong he will find, taking them by and large, that they compare favourably with those of any other territory. The example my honourable Friend took was the Estate Duty (Amendment) Bill. Now, anyone at all acquainted with these matters knows perfectly well that legislation to do with taxation is notoriously complex. And, in a very highly technical field, which has become so largely as a result of the wiles of those who are interested either in avoiding or in evading taxation, simplicity is bound to result in ambiguity, and ambiguity is exactly what the avoiders or evaders hope for and what Mr. Terry wishes to be rid of. Sir, Mr. Terry cannot expect to have it both ways.

We legal draftsmen are not gifted with divine prescience nor are we capable of achieving perfect clarity, but I don't think our drafting is as poor in quality as Mr. Terry has tried to make out.

THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY: —Sir, I have to confess that when I listened to the speeches that were made in this Chamber last Wednesday, I felt somewhat disappointed. I detected a note, not quite of defeatism, but rather of despondency or pessimism. My honourable Friend Dr. Chau referred to the alarming demands for restriction of our trade from other quarters following on the concessions to Lancashire by our textile industry, and mentioned that considerable despondency prevails among our local manufacturers. My honourable Friend Mr. Clague analysed our trade returns and pointed out that a large part of our additional Hong Kong exports last year must be regarded as fortuitous. He went on to sound a word of warning because he believed that there might well be a falling off in the number of flats built by private enterprise. And my honourable Friend Dr. Chau also sounded a note of warning that our revenue can not go on forever spiralling upwards, and that the time to call a halt to public spending may be drawing near.

Now, Sir, I do not feel pessimistic. On the contrary, I feel optimistic about the future. The time undoubtedly will come when we shall have to call a halt to public spending, but I feel that the time is not yet, and when that time does come, we have a fairly substantial cushion in the form of our reserves. My optimism has been reinforced during the past three or four weeks by the information that has been given to me by businessmen, and by my own observation, for all the signs seem to indicate that trade is once again on the upward grade.

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So is industry. The restaurant business, which has been in the doldrums for some months, seems to be picking up in a most remarkable way, and even the stock exchange has come to life again.

A certain feeling pf despondency about moves against our trade is understandable, but restrictions on our trade are nothing new. Memories in this part of the world are very short, but I remember only too well what happened after the outbreak of the Korean war in 1950. By a stroke of the pen, our exports to the United States were stopped overnight, and, what was worse, all our raw materials from that country were cut off, so that our factories, which depended almost completely on those raw materials, were put out of business. That was a far greater interruption of our trade than anything that has happened either before or since, and we survived it. And I believe we shall survive further difficulties. I have very great confidence in the ability and the ingenuity of our traders, and our manufacturers; and indeed, Sir, it would seem that Government's confidence in our people is greater than that of my honourable Friends.

My honourable Friend Mr. Clague gave a most interesting and illuminating analysis of our exports, and came to the conclusion that a large part of our additional exports in 1958 must be regarded as largely fortuitous. But surely, Sir, this is nothing unusual in Hong Kong. In fact, far from being unusual, it is the rule. It cannot be otherwise in a free economy. If I may instance a particularly interesting case of fortuitous trade, I well remember a certain occasion when I had the honour of being the Head of the Commerce and Industry Department. I was somewhat puzzled by the way in which the trade returns were coming out, and I initiated some inquiries. It was at a time when two countries in Asia were having political differences, and although neighbours, had discontinued trading with each other. What had happened was that our merchants, who never miss an opportunity, had taken over the trade between these two countries, and were actually importing goods from each country to Hong Kong and exporting them to the other. If that is not fortuitous trade, I do not know what is. And this sort of thing, this opportunism, is a fundamental feature of our Colony. And, Sir, may I add, that I hope it will long remain so.

The falling off in the number of flats being built by private enterprise about which we are warned has probably started already in a small way. But it is largely confined to the better class flats, the flats for people above the limit for the Housing Authority, and the reason for the falling off is surely the fact that the market for this type of flat is fairly well saturated, to such an extent indeed that rents in certain areas are falling. The position, so far as I can see, is not unsatisfactory, and I am very glad to see that rents are dropping.

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And surely we have made a positive approach to flat building by making almost unlimited funds available to the Housing Authority and to the Hong Kong Housing Society, and by giving them land at privileged rates. So far as Government is concerned, these two organizations have full liberty to plan ahead until further notice, on the assumption that all necessary funds will be made available.

It might be of interest to honourable Members, in passing, in connexion with the building boom if I mention that our sales of sand in December 1958 reached an all-time record of almost 78,000 cubic yards. There is no indication here of any slowing down in building development.

Linked with the question of more housing accommodation being made available, is the suggestion of my honourable Friend Dr. Chau that new premises still unoccupied six months after completion should be rated. This suggestion has been put forward, perhaps in slightly different form in the past, and we are of course up against the fundamental difficulty that, under the law as it stands, rates are an occupier's rate; hence if there is no occupier there should be no rates. We could of course get round that. I have discussed the matter with the Commissioner of Rating and Valuation, and I am not quite sure that the position is really as bad as has been represented. The Rating Department makes an annual survey of empty new domestic floors in the month of March each year. For the previous three years the position has varied little, the number being around 1,000 to 1,200. The survey for the present year is now being made, and present indications are that the number has indeed increased.

Apart from the inconsistency of suggesting a new restriction on landlords, which would really mean forcing rents down, at the same time as removal of restrictions under the Landlord and Tenant Ordinance is proposed, the suggestion has certain practical difficulties. It would be quite simple for an owner deliberately to delay full completion of a block of flats until he was quite sure that he would be able to dispose of them, and similarly it would be comparatively easy for an owner who had built his flats to delay submitting the completion certificate to the Buildings Ordinance Office, so that there would be no occupation permit. Government would be very reluctant to introduce the necessary legislation in the knowledge that it could be got around with comparative ease.

There is, Sir, a possible compromise that I put to honourable Members for their consideration. It is that the present concession whereby rates on empty premises may be refunded in full on application should be modified, so that the refund is limited to half, or some other convenient proportion, of the rates paid. This provision might be restricted to new buildings, or it might apply to all buildings, but

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if it is to apply only to new buildings, then it is necessary to define new buildings properly by reference to a period of years from the date of the occupation permit issued by the Buildings Ordinance Office. As I say, I throw out this suggestion for consideration of honourable Members and Government will be glad to receive their views on it.

My honourable Friend Mr. Clague suggested the establishment of what he described as a Community Chest, to cater for the financial needs of charitable organizations. I can say that this question has already been raised in a different context, and will before long come up for consideration by Government, but I regret that I am unable to forecast what Government's decision on the matter might be.

The rest of what I have to say covers the points raised on industry and trade.

The undertaking given by our textile industry to limit its exports to the United Kingdom has been mentioned by several members, and the problems which have arisen in the administration of this undertaking have been touched upon. Government undertook to police this arrangement with great reluctance, for a procedure of this kind is entirely foreign to our normal methods of working. The Commerce and Industry Department has endeavoured, and is endeavouring, to administer the scheme in accordance with the wishes of the organizations which subscribed to the undertaking, but it is perhaps unfortunate that these organizations are not entirely in agreement among themselves as to the principles which should be adopted. The Director is trying to arrange matters as fairly and as understandingly as is possible in the circumstances, and has, I understand, been in consultation with the heads of the organizations in an endeavour to smooth matters over. I can assure this Council that there will be no change in this policy of consultation.

My honourable Friend Mr. Clague suggested that Government should provide flatted factories for the benefit of small manufacturers. As members are aware, Government has already committed itself to a number of resettlement factories, which are really miniature flatted factories, and favours the idea of such factories on a much larger scale. Our trouble really is the fact that our public works programme is already so huge that we are most reluctant to impose on the Public Works Department any further burdens. We have endeavoured to interest private enterprise in constructing flatted factories at Kwun Tong, and we sold two sites for this purpose. So far there seems to have been little progress. On the 12th of last month, we communicated with the Colonial Development Corporation, and we suggested to this body that it might be interested in the construction of flatted factories in Hong Kong on the basis of sharing the cost with us.

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The initial reaction from the Corporation has been favourable, and the matter is now under consideration in London. I am in hopes that this approach may be the answer to our problem.

My honourable Friend Dr. Chau suggests the establishment of a branch office of the Commerce and Industry Department in Kowloon. In principle, we favour providing facilities for the public in Kowloon as in Hong Kong, and, as members are aware, a number of Departments have already established Kowloon offices. More will be established as opportunity offers. But there are considerable practical difficulties for the Commerce and Industry Department. I think that Dr. Chau had in mind greater facilities for export of our manufactured goods, and in such case two things have to be considered. One is the export licence, the other the certificate of origin. Now both these documents are issued not to manufacturers as such, but to exporters, and I believe it is the case that comparatively few factories have their own export departments; where they do, their offices are usually on the Hong Kong side. Most factories rely on exporting firms, and I know of no substantial firm which does not have its office on the island. Similarly, certificates of origin are based on costings. The costing is applied to the factory which, it is true, is usually in Kowloon, but is supplied to the Commerce and Industry Department by the accountants, who all again have their offices on the Hong Kong side. If a branch office were to be set up in Kowloon, records would have to be duplicated, for where a factory is exporting through three or four different firms, as frequently happens, a copy of the costing would have to be kept in each office in case one exporter wanted to get his certificate in Kowloon, and another wanted his certificate in Hong Kong. There is one further complication; it is that if export licences were to be granted in Kowloon, then we should also have to establish a branch of Exchange Control in Kowloon. All in all, I do not think that, in view of the heavy cost of accommodation, duplication of records, and duplication of staff, the establishment of a branch office in Kowloon can yet be justified.

Mention has been made of the possibility, or the desirability, of establishing more offices overseas, or of stationing Trade Commissioners overseas. In matters such as this, Government consults the Trade and Industry Advisory Board, which is the proper body for considering such matters. The Board advised that an office should be set up in Australia, and this advice has been accepted; but the Board has not yet advised that Government should open an office in the United States, and I understand that some honourable Members here today also have some doubts about the advisability of such a move. An important point on the question of opening overseas offices is the problem of staffing. The man in charge of an office overseas is subject only to a very remote control, and it would I think be very rash to rush into a very expensive

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project such as opening an office in San Francisco, or in Los Angeles, or in New York, unless we can be reasonably certain that we have, not only a competent officer, but a responsible officer, to take charge of it. We have had one or two unhappy experiences in the past which we do not wish to repeat.

The matter of the advisability of opening a display centre at Kai Tak is also, I think, one for the Trade and Industry Advisory Board, and the Chairman of the Board has had his attention drawn to the suggestion.

My honourable Friend Mr. Barton devoted his entertaining maiden speech to the problem of trade promotion, with particular reference to the need for more publicity about Hong Kong in the United Kingdom and the United States, and I was particularly impressed by the urgency of his plea that Government should do something about it and that Government should do something about it quickly. His plea for more publicity, and for better publicity, comes at a most opportune time, because we have now under consideration a lengthy report on reorganization and expansion of the Public Relations Office, and we have also just received a letter from the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce suggesting the necessity for more publicity abroad. The whole question is now being gone into and I can assure my honourable Friend that there will be no undue delay in the matter. Any decision to increase publicity will undoubtedly mean the provision of additional funds, which will require the consent of Finance Committee, and as Unofficial Members all sit on the Finance Committee, they will before long become aware of Government's proposals on the matter.

I think, Sir, that my honourable Friend and Colleague, the Colonial Secretary, is going to deal with the other points which have been raised. I would just like, if I may, to conclude with an expression of thanks for the support and understanding manifested by the Unofficial Members, and for their constructive, and most stimulating, criticism, both in Committee throughout the year, and in Council during this debate.

THE COLONIAL SECRETARY: —Your Excellency, the broad range and scope of the speeches to which we listened a week ago have earned warm praise in the leading articles of the press—and very rightly too; for in speaking as they did the Unofficial Members have demonstrated once again how wide, and yet how detailed, is the interest they continuously display in the ever-expanding business of Government. This interest is both a challenge and a stimulus which we on the official side welcome, not only at Budget time, but throughout the year. For our administration can achieve little without the help of watchful and constructive criticism both from within this Council, and from outside.

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In winding up this debate, Sir, I would like at the outset to assure my honourable Friends that if this afternoon it may not be possible for the Official Members to deal with each and every individual point raised by our versatile Colleagues barely a week ago, that does not mean that their words will go unheeded or that their suggestions will not be followed up. They will be.

I turn first, Sir, to one matter on which I would like to touch briefly— planning. This is a subject on which there can be some confusion if terms are not defined. If my understanding of his remarks is correct, my honourable Friend Dr. Rodrigues does not envisage planning solely in terms of a large programme of buildings or engineering works however necessary these may be to meet the manifold and growing requirements of our society. If I am correct, what he would regard as the prime need is long-term, co-ordinated, land-use planning, so that the development, or perhaps the redevelopment, of different areas of the Colony may be guided in outline by a master plan to provide for balanced development and adequate communications. This form of planning is, of course, proceeding, and more rapidly now than in the past. My Colleague the Director of Public Works has referred to the strengthening of the planning division of the Crown Lands Office, and to the build up of the development division, which concentrates attention mainly on undeveloped areas; while in the meantime consulting engineers have been commissioned to investigate the potentialities of certain areas as new satellite towns. The need for such planning has never been in doubt; the difficulty was to find the staff.

But perhaps, people may say, even this is not going far enough. In your recent address, Sir, to the Engineering Society of Hong Kong you suggested that what some may have in mind is a diagnostic plan to cover the whole range of Hong Kong's life and problems. You pointed out, Sir, that this sort of blue-print for the future must depend on accurate statistical data, such as we may expect to obtain from the Census proposed for the end of next year. If in Hong Kong we have not hitherto contemplated planning of this nature, it is surely because, in the post-war years, the rapidly shifting current of events, both social and economic, has made it well-nigh impossible for us to take firm stock of our situation; and because of the need to grapple at once with the vital problems with which these events have confronted us.

Honourable Members did not, however, confine themselves to the more theoretical aspects of long-term planning, but raised a number of specific points with which I might next deal in this context of land planning. Negotiations have been going on during the past week or so over the Admiralty lands. Details will be reported very shortly to Finance Committee, and will doubtless be the subject of a Resolution

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in this Council at a later stage. The Traffic Consultant's Report has been under detailed examination in the Public Works Department and by the Police, and will be tabled shortly. Meanwhile the Public Works Department has prepared a scheme for the lay-out of the junctions of Garden, Queen's and Murray Roads, which incorporates the Consultant's recommendations. This scheme has been before the Traffic Advisory Committee and a final decision should soon be taken. Several aspects of the report of the Consultant on the Railway Terminal are still being examined, and publication is not yet possible; but it is the intention to make copies of this Report available to Members of this Council in the very near future.

My honourable Friends Mr. Ngan and Mr. Clague both appealed for speed in introducing the second Vehicular Ferry Service. The present inconvenience to motorists and to commercial traffic is fully recognized and the urgency for this new service goes unquestioned; but as Mr. Burgess pointed out last year it was clearly imperative to re-examine the earlier scheme for terminals at North Point and Hung Hom and delay on this score was therefore inevitable. The final recommendations for a service between Kowloon City and North Point were accepted and announced in December. No time has been lost since then; the Consultant's Report should be available this month and working drawings should start in May. Construction is estimated to take 12 months, and on this basis one cannot expect that the new piers will be complete before the end of next year.

Several Unofficial Members spoke of the Report of the Special Committee on Housing and it is very natural that this should be uppermost in all our minds. Housing is possibly the most formidable and complex problem facing us today. The Committee which was appointed in 1956 has now provided an up-to-date and comprehensive survey of this grave problem, based on the fruits of careful investigation and research. The recommendations of the Report are now under study by the newly-appointed Commissioner of Housing, who has come to us after long experience in these matters with the Singapore Improvement Trust; I do not therefore wish to say anything more in general terms this afternoon. I can, however, assure my honourable Friend Dr. Chau that both the Housing Authority and the Hong Kong Housing Society will receive every encouragement to apply for loan funds for approved schemes, and the quicker they can proceed the better pleased we shall be.

Dr. Chau also referred to Government's proposal to purchase 1,000 Rats in the Housing Society's Shau Kei Wan Estate for its junior staff who are ineligible for, or unable to afford, membership of local officers' housing co-operatives. This proposal was announced at Budget time last year when the Colonial Secretary said that the

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Estate was unlikely to be completed before 1960. I do not think we can undertake to extend this scheme until it has been put to the test of experience, but the desirability of doing so will be kept in mind as and when new estates are planned by the Society.

My honourable Friend also spoke of the terms of service of local officers, not only in relation to housing, but also in connexion with leave, expatriation pay, and other conditions as well. Perhaps these remarks were intended, in part at least, for the attentive ears of the Salaries Commission, who will doubtless take note of such proposals as fall within their terms of reference. As regards courses of instruction, however, Dr. Chau again emphasized the vital importance of enabling local officers in Classes I and II to take study leave every few years, so that their ideas may be refreshed and their outlooks broadened. Mr. Burgess in his speech last year promised that this proposal would be further considered when a survey of all training programmes within Government had been completed. Honourable Members will by now have received a copy of the Government Report on Training 1952-1958, and will be in a position to appreciate the scope and spread of training undertaken both locally and overseas. Undoubtedly the latter is of great value, and in recognition of this fact we have already made arrangements for 31 local officers in Classes I and II to go on overseas courses of instruction in 1959, as against 26 last year, and inevitably the figure of 31 will expand as the year progresses. The total number of local officers going overseas on courses in 1959 will be 72, exactly twice the number in 1957.

The annual practice of sending certain local officers on merit vacation trips to the United Kingdom, with the help of the British Council, has proved so popular and successful that we have doubled the number, and are now making arrangements to send four officers selected for this year's visits to the United Kingdom in May.

I will not dwell on the undoubted value of study leave, nor pretend that we would not like to send more local officers overseas; but one must stop here and examine the financial implications. I will select as an example a Medical or Education Officer half way up his salary scale. For six months study leave the cost would be about $12,000 in addition to his salary (with possibly a further $11,000 to provide a replacement during his absence). Therefore, if Dr. Chau's admirable suggestion were to be adopted, the annual cost of sending all local officers in Classes I and II, who at present number about 450, for six months' study leave every fourth year would be about $1,366,000 in addition to the officers' salaries and the cost of their replacements. This figure of $1.3 million refers of course only to Classes I and II local officers. We also send on courses of instruction a number of more junior local officers and a number of overseas

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officers during their vacation leave. In order therefore to implement Dr. Chau's proposals we should have to increase very greatly the courses of instruction vote which stands at $1,100,000 in this year's estimates. It is an ideal of which we shall not lose sight, but it is going to cost a lot of money and if I have emphasized this in some detail, honourable Members will take the point that improvements in terms of service generally must likewise carry substantial financial implications.

May I now turn, Sir, to a subject on which two Members spoke, the difficulties facing those of our people who are engaged in primary production. To deal first with the farmers: Government is fully aware of the wide fluctuations in market prices with which they have to contend. This does not in itself appear to be a matter over which we can exercise control, for the Colony is necessarily dependent to a substantial extent on imported foodstuffs and I do not think the imposition of tariffs or quotas is a measure which this Council or the people as a whole would look on with any favour. We must therefore concentrate on encouraging and assisting the farmers to reduce their production and marketing costs, to improve and diversify their husbandry, and if possible to effect long-term improvements in the fertility and productivity of their land. Much is already being done, and I am informed that up to the end of 1958, sums loaned from the J. E. Joseph Trust Fund and the Vegetable Marketing Organization Loan Fund had reached a total of over 6 million dollars. And in addition there have been substantial loans and gifts from the Kadoorie Agricultural Aid Fund. There has been a steady expansion in the operations and plans of the Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Department, and I have heard no criticism of these operations or of the irrigation programme. But it may well be, as Dr. Chau has suggested, that additional measures are needed to enable the farmer to look further ahead and plan long-term improvements. The Rural Development Committee is already discussing the possibility of creating a loan fund on the lines envisaged by Dr. Chau, that is to say a fund from which money could be borrowed, at moderate interest and upon reasonable security, for periods of perhaps five or ten years. Such loans would include loans to enable a tenant cultivator to purchase his own land. The Rural Development Committee and the departments concerned have now been requested to work out detailed proposals to this end, and in view of the many difficulties confronting our farmers I think we should give favourable consideration to these proposals when they come.

The position facing the fishing industry during the course of 1958 was also one of complexity and uncertainty. Here I would stress the uncertainty, particularly the uncertainty which prevailed during the autumn of last year when there was a sudden drop in landings. Even

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so the landings of fresh marine fish for 1958 was only some 50,000 piculs lower than the 1957 total of 673,000 piculs, and only 8% of our total landings last year represented imported fish. Conditions are now reasonably normal again, and there is no immediate problem of relief or alternative employment for our fishermen. Let me immediately disclaim any complacency by saying that no one can predict the future, and we are not merely sitting back and anxiously hoping for the best. As my honourable Friends Dr. Chau and Mr. Ngan have pointed out, the answer may lie in building up and mechanizing our deep-sea fleet. Last year Your Excellency directed that proposals to this end should be drawn up and these are now being studied. They are much on the lines suggested by my honourable Friends—increased loan funds for the mechanization of trawlers and long liners; experimentation in a new type of deep-sea trawler, and the acquisition of a new research vessel for deep-sea research. We intend to follow up these proposals carefully. Expansion on these lines would be a long-term process, requiring time and careful preparation. But it may well prove worthwhile, not least in providing a counter-balance to any serious reduction in inshore fishing on which a substantial part of our fleet is engaged.

May I now turn, Sir, to a completely different subject, that of illegal taxis to which my honourable Friend Mr. Clague referred. The number of licensed taxis is restricted by the Commissioner of Police under the appropriate regulations. Immediately after the war, taxi licences were issued to applicants who could prove that they were pre-war owners of taxis or public cars. By 1947 a total of 627 licences had been issued and this was felt for the time to be adequate to meet public demand. The total was reviewed annually and there was a further increase of 66 licences in July 1957. These were divided proportionately among the larger companies since experience had shown that individual owners were unable to exercise adequate control over the conduct of their drivers and to provide proper garage and maintenance facilities. Taxis are generally available in sufficient numbers in the urban areas, and, so far as I am aware, there has been no public demand for any increase; unrestricted licences would cause an intolerable traffic situation and would not assist the problem to which my honourable Friend has referred. Illegal taxis operate, as he has said, mainly in, to and from the New Territories where public transport services, perhaps understandably, have not kept pace with expanding population. They constitute, in fact, a sort of irregular bus service. They cater mainly for sections of the population who cannot afford or do not wish to travel by licensed taxi, and consequently to increase the number of licensed taxis would not appreciably reduce the demand for these vehicles. By failing to provide garage accommodation and adequate maintenance, their owners can operate at fares well below those for licensed taxis and frequently at the same fare as for buses. The Police are fully aware of this unsatisfactory situation. Many

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prosecutions have been taken though it has often proved difficult to obtain the evidence to secure conviction. In any event prosecutions alone are not the answer, and the solution to this problem lies more, I believe, on other lines: firstly in an all round improvement in existing bus services, together with the introduction of special services to provide for the particular needs of the New Territories inhabitants; and, secondly, the introduction of new regulations, now in draft, governing the licensing of public hire cars.

I am grateful to my honourable Friend for airing this matter, and I might in addition take this opportunity of warning the public that by travelling in these vehicles they are taking a considerable risk: for in the event of an accident involving injury it is unlikely that a claim against the owners' insurance would succeed.

My honourable Friend Mr. Kwok Chan may rest assured that Government is very much alive to, and is keeping a close watch on, the danger of pornographic publications and journals. It is not denied that there has been a recrudescence of these offences although perhaps not quite to the extent inferred recently. It is not, I might add, unregistered newspapers which are to blame in these matters, even if that is how it might appear from a casual observation of the manner in which offending supplements are sometimes sold. Powers contained in the Indecent Exhibitions Ordinance are adequate, and Government will not hesitate to use them when it appears that there is sufficient evidence for a successful prosecution. Meanwhile those sections of the press who so rightly deplore this objectionable type of publication, and indeed the public as a whole, would greatly assist if they were to bring specific instances and offences to the notice of the authorities.

Two other matters which were raised concerned Tourism. Dr. Chau called on the Tourist Association to issue a report on the work it has accomplished. Under sections 18 and 19 of the Ordinance which created the Association, the Board is required to prepare a statement of account and a report of its activities as soon as possible after the end of each financial year and these are required to be laid on the table of this Council.

The year which is now ending is the first full year of the Association's operation. Although the Ordinance was passed in June 1957 the Association did not begin to function fully until towards the end of the financial year 1957/58. Government therefore agreed that the Association need not submit a report for that year. A statement of accounts was submitted which showed the total expenditure of the Association at a little over $70,000.

The accounts and report for the year 1958/59 will be tabled as soon as they have been received from the Association.

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The same speaker referred to cheaper air travel between Hong Kong and the United Kingdom. Honourable Members will be aware from recent issues of the Gazette that three airline operators have applied for licences to provide such services at excursion rates. Their applications are now before the appropriate licensing authorities both here and in the United Kingdom, and I feel it would be premature for me to make any statement before these authorities have expressed their views.

Two final points, Sir, concern education. Mr. Ngan suggested more assistance in the form of scholarships and bursaries, and the provision of more school sites near Victoria Park. As to the former, over half a million dollars are provided for scholarships and bursaries tenable at the University. The provision for scholarships and bursaries tenable at the post secondary colleges is smaller only because the scheme is not yet fully under way. Expenditure will rise to about the same figure.

This scheme then provides about 30 scholarships and 80 bursaries a year. The bursaries are restricted to candidates intending—and considered suitable—to take up teaching as a career, apart from a small number of bursaries in social studies. Awards are purely on merit but the amount of each scholarship or bursary is determined by the financial needs of the successful candidate.

We are thus already committed to schemes which will involve annual expenditure of well over a million dollars, and under which there will at any one time be several hundred students assisted by Government funds.

Even so, it is realized that this provision may prove inadequate. In a financial review of education recently submitted the Director of Education has recommended an increase of 10 awards per year, and if there were to be any considerable expansion of the University further increases might be necessary.

As to the military lands at Causeway Bay, it is planned to use this area, when available, for residential and commercial development, and in these plans the claims of schools for suitable sites will receive due consideration.

Sir, Hong Kong's Problem of People is a phrase that today has become almost a cliché. It is not a single problem; like the monster of mythology it has many heads, and as one yields to attack another takes its place. But we are not dismayed. What we have done is not altogether negligible, and if at times the problems which surround us may appear bewildering in their variety it will nevertheless continue

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to be our firm resolve to set about them with that confidence, courage and determination which characterized Your Excellency's own address to this Council four weeks ago.

Sir, I move that the resolution be adopted.

THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY seconded.

The question was put and agreed to.

RESOLUTION REGARDING THE ESTIMATES OF REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE FOR 1959-60.

THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY moved the following resolution: —

Resolved that the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for 1959-60 as amended by the Report of the Select Committee be approved.

THE COLONIAL SECRETARY seconded.

The question was put and agreed to.

APPROPRIATION (1959-60) BILL, 1959.

THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY moved the First reading of a Bill intituled “An Ordinance to apply a sum not exceeding six hundred and ninety-three million, forty-three thousand, two hundred and ten dollars to the Public Service of the financial year ending the 31st day of March, 1960.”

He said: Sir, the purpose of this Bill is to provide the necessary legislative sanction for the estimates of expenditure which have just been approved.

THE COLONIAL SECRETARY seconded.

The question was put and agreed to.

The Bill was read a First time.

THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY: —As this will be the last meeting of Council before the close of the financial year, it is desirable that Standing Orders should be suspended in order to enable this Bill to be taken through its remaining stages today. If, Sir, you are of that opinion, I beg leave to move suspension of Standing Orders.

H. E. THE GOVERNOR: —I am of that opinion.

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THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY: —Sir, I rise to move that Standing Orders be suspended in order to allow the Appropriation (1959-60) Bill, 1959 to be read a Second and Third time today.

THE COLONIAL SECRETARY seconded.

The question was put and agreed to.

THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY moved the Second reading of the Appropriation (1959-60) Bill, 1959.

THE COLONIAL SECRETARY seconded.

The question was put and agreed to.

The Bill was read a Second time.

Council then went into Committee to consider the Bill clause by clause. Clauses 1 and 2, the Schedule and the Preamble were agreed to. Council then resumed.

THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY reported that the Appropriation (1959-60) Bill, 1959 had passed through Committee without amendment and moved the Third reading.

THE COLONIAL SECRETARY seconded.

The question was put and agreed to.

The Bill was read a Third time and passed.

ADJOURNMENT.

H. E. THE GOVERNOR: —Well, gentlemen, that concludes the business for today. When is it your pleasure that we should meet again?

THE ATTORNEY GENERAL: —May I suggest this day two weeks? H. E. THE GOVERNOR: —Council stands adjourned until this day two weeks.