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and amenities for our people. I will confine myself to just two others to-day.

There is an ever-increasing demand in our industries for technicians and mid-level management staff. So acute is the shortage that many firms have been forced to bring in the necessary trained personnel from abroad.

There appears to be very little, if any, effort being made in our educational policy to cater for this increasing need. It is something that is vital to our continued prosperity and affects the future of a large number of our student population. Far too many of our promising students are being educated for export and too few facilities are avail- able to convince them that opportunities exist here for suitably trained people to pursue a worthwhile and rewarding career in our industries. Perhaps the newly formed Productivity Council will have a place in its deliberations for discussion on this matter. It is to be hoped, that as well as industrialists and government officers, teachers and parents will be consulted too.

Our Tourist industry has enjoyed a continuing prosperity over the last five years. Very considerable sums of money have been and are being spent on developing it still further. We should be pleased at this development since the more people who come to Hong Kong from various countries, the more will a greater understanding of our problems be disseminated around the world. But we seem to be reach- ing rapidly a stage where, if I may say so "the tail is beginning to wag the dog". Uncontrolled hotel construction has led to over-provision of hotel rooms. Where once there was a definite shortage of hotel rooms there is now a glut. In a few short years we have come from the point where accommodation very often could not be found by a visitor, to the point now, where if he decides the price is too high, he may bargain, as he would in an Oriental bazaar, for a cheaper rate; and this in first-class newly-constructed hotels! The proprietors are so keen to get visitors' custom now that they are prepared to do this. Since over- heads have to be met and loans repaid, the shop spaces in these hotels are rented at very high prices. This drives up the retail price of goods to the tourist. In their turn, other shopkeepers bring up their prices too, and now we have reached the stage where the local resident is being charged high prices for goods whose price would never have gone so high, were we not catering on such a large scale for the wealthy tourist. While the bonanza lasts, some people will make a lot of money; but has any serious thought been given to what is happening to the ordinary man in the street? Higher prices are forcing demands for higher wages, in turn causing higher prices for export commodities. We are in real danger of pricing ourselves out of many markets includ- ing the local tourist market. Whilst preserving our respect for free trade and free enterprise, our planners should also consider more closely

the long-term effects of any scheme, on the man in the street, our ordinary citizens, on whose labour and skills alone in the last analysis, our prosperity stands or falls.

It is not through malice on the part of our planners that plans turn out to be piecemeal. It is merely that unconsciously they are out of touch with the man in the street and his particular problems. There should be more contact between our people and their Government.

In recent times, the opening of the Public Enquiry Service, of the Employment Advisory Bureau and the arrangement whereby Urban Councillors are available to deal personally with members of the public, and the service available to the public at 706 Union House organized by the Unofficial Members of the Legislative Council, all show steps in the right direction. Elsewhere, we have spoken of the desirability of having the proceedings and correspondence including notices, of this Council conducted bilingually. All this will help to unite the people and the Government more in planning and executing the varied schemes necessary for the continued well-being of Hong Kong.

The Secretariat for Chinese Affairs was specially set up to act as a bridge between the people and Government. Indeed many people feel that the gradual emergence of Hong Kong from 19th century colonialism has increased, not diminished, the need for an effective bridge between Government and the masses of our population; and I would like to see greater use made of its facilities.

We all have the welfare of Hong Kong and its citizens at heart. If we really want to achieve that, we shall have to remember that "Government was made for the people" and therefore no scheme should be finalized and no measure introduced in the name of free enterprise, as and until its effects in the short and long term on the ordinary individual, have been weighed and assessed.

Our people are the source and centre of our prosperity. They deserve, and have a right to amenities in their daily lives. It is our duty to acquaint ourselves with their needs and seek to supply them.

I look forward, saying with Confucius with one burning con- viction: 民之所好,好之民之所惡,惡之此之謂民之父母也。 “To love what the people love and to hate what is bad for the people, is called being the people's father and mother".

Mr. Chairman, I support the motion.

MRS. ELLEN LI SHU-PUI: Mr. Chairman, as I am the most junior appointed member of this Council, it is most difficult, if not impossible, for me to find something original to comment on. Any- thing that is worth saying has already been said by my more senior