1967 — Page 143

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Page 143 of 259

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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

an invaluable service in many fields. I hope my esteemed colleague, the Director of Social Welfare, will appreciate that I am not criticizing him or his Department at all, and that I am only voicing my dissatis- faction over the meagre funds allocated to our community development.

Generally speaking, it is sound policy to plan well ahead, and not just to deal with a situation as and when it arises. After the riots of last year, we woke up and realized that we needed more recreational facilities for our rising generation. When the disturbances had started last May, we hurriedly turned our attention to our labour legislation and found that it was inadequate, although the disturbances I believe had little to do with management-labour disputes. However, it is no use lamenting over the past: it is the future that is important, and I have every confidence that Government will plan far-sightedly in the years that lie ahead.

Here in Hong Kong, when one (like Oliver Twist) asks for more service for the public, one gets a more or less set reply, "Oh, we know that, but it is a question of priorities." Should not the provision of more hospital beds be given top priority when the sick poor requiring hospitalization have to wait for months to get into a public hospital? What capital expenditure has Government offered to voluntary agencies to encourage them to provide more hospital beds? No one will dis- pute that the Queen Elizabeth Hospital is a very modern hospital, but the hard fact remains that we need more hospital beds, and we as a community are not doing our very best to increase them as rapidly as possible.

A word about education. I am not in favour of compulsory education in Hong Kong at present, because I believe it would be adding insult to injury to compel parents to send their children to school when they can hardly keep body and soul together. What I should like to suggest is that Government should generously assist well-established voluntary agencies to build and run many, many more secondary grammar and secondary technical schools so as to render less competitive the Secondary School Entrance Examination which has for a very long time placed a very harmful effect on our primary school leavers, and this harmful effect might cause permanent injury to their mental capabilities.

I am sure my critics will ask this question, "How are these social, medical and educational services to be paid for?" I suggest that we take an objective look at our tax structure and the problem of tax evasion. Is it fair that corporations earning millions or tens of millions of dollars a year should pay the same rate of profit tax as a firm earn- ing only twenty thousand dollars, or a person earning a million or half a million dollars a year should pay the same rate of income tax as one earning only seventy thousand dollars? We must realize that to pro-

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vide more services, we must be prepared to pay for them and we must all make a sacrifice, with the rich sacrificing more than the average.

To avoid the accusation that I am making an irresponsible sug- gestion, I wish to make it quite clear that I shall be happy to pay more to enable Government to offer better services for the poor. Surely the time has gone when foreign tycoons came here, enjoyed our very low tax, made their pile, and then left us to our fate, claim- ing after their departure that they still had our interest at heart. Such lip-service deceived nobody, and will deceive nobody. What we need in Hong Kong is not lip-service, but true sacrifice and contribution on the part of all who can afford to do so in the interest of our less fortunate brethren in our community. With Government officials and advisers and community leaders taking the lead and setting an example, I have not the least shadow of doubt that such sacrifice and contribu- tion will be forthcoming in abundance.

There are people who are of the opinion that if we change our tax structure, there will be an immediate outflow of capital. This school of thought might be correct, but even if there were an outflow of capital, it would not be on a very large scale, and we need not have any fear as the Chinese people in Hong Kong who have during the past 120 years made the Colony what it is are known for their industry and resilience which have stood them in good stead in the past, and which will enable them to weather any storm which might come their way. What we need to fear is prosperity on the surface for only a few, and proverty and suffering for the many who work hard in our factories and shops. In this connexion may I also suggest that in future should any new tax be imposed, the main burden should not fall on the shoulders of the middle-income group and the lower-income group.

The pros and cons of having an ombudsman for Hong Kong have been fully discussed and re-discussed in many quarters, and I think it is generally accepted that we need such a post for our system of Government. I take this opportunity to urge Government to actively consider the appointment of an ombudsman without further delay.

Mr. Chairman, it is an ill wind that blows nobody any good: the recent disturbances have brought out one significant fact that the people are solidly behind the Government. It is now up to Govern- ment not only to try to bring life back to normal, but also to initiate measures to achieve one definitive objective-that here in Hong Kong we may have a community where the rich and the poor can live happily together in the brotherhood of men and under the fatherhood of God.

With these remarks, Mr. Chairman, I beg to move. (Applause).