1968 — Page 144

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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

Some people have suggested that Government increase direct taxa- tion to finance social welfare projects. I am not opposed to this sugges- tion, in principle were it practicable. What some of us fail to see is that an increase in taxation does not necessarily mean an enormous increase in the general revenue. Any increase in direct taxation cannot produce the desired result if there is no strict legislation to reduce the incidence of tax evasion.

True, tax evasion occurs all over the world, to a greater or lesser extent, and in fact not a few people take great pride in being able to outwit the tax man. Hong Kong is of course no exception in this respect in spite of its very favourable tax structure. I fully appreciate that no matter how hard we try, we can never eradicate tax evasion completely, but I really fail to see why a law cannot be enacted to compel firms and individuals, particularly the latter to issue proper receipts when payments are received.

In Hong Kong we have quite a number of commercial and industrial concerns which have been run for years and years without showing a profit balance in their in trading and Profit and Loss Account. Can we be so naive as to believe that the owners of such concerns can afford to go on year in and year out like this for such a long period without becoming insolvent and being forced to wind up their business? We hate to see Government poking its nose into our private affairs, but I seriously suggest it is now high time for the Inland Revenue Department to employ more staff to go more thoroughly into the annual returns of these concerns.

Before I conclude, Sir, I wish to assure my colleagues how much I have enjoyed working with them through all these years. I must also thank them for their co-operation, indulgence and tolerance, very often in moments of stress. I am grateful, Sir, to the Secretary of this Council and all his assistants, the staff of the Urban Services Depart- ment and of the Resettlement Department for their willing assistance and support. As Chairman of the Resettlement Management Select Committee, I should like to express my grateful thanks to the Director of Public Works and his staff, without whose energetic co-operation in the resettlement building programme we could not have achieved what we have achieved today.

Finally, with regard to the future of this Council, I have no doubt, Sir, that under your able and enlightened leadership, it will continue to progress and function for the best interest of the community.

With this happy note, Mr. Chairman, I have pleasure to support the Motion. (Applause).

HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

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MR. KENNETH T. C. Lo:-Mr. Chairman, in rising to support the Motion before the Council, I wish to comment first on the hawker problem which has assumed considerable prominence in recent months.

We are all agreed that something must be done, though we are by no means agreed on what to do. Personally, I feel that this problem will be with us for a long time whatever policy we adopt or try to implement. Solution to the satisfaction of all concerned will not be easy, but I think it will help if we examine our attitude to hawkers. Do we regard the needs of the hawkers as paramount? If so, we will look for the best means to enable hawkers to earn a living, even if this means disruption of traffic and allowing streets to be littered with the remains of vegetables etc.

Recently, there has been a suggestion that the name of the Hawker Control Force should be changed to Hawkers Service Corps or some such name. Presumably, the idea behind this suggestion is that the Force should serve the hawkers instead of controlling them. The inten- tion to help hawkers is quite understandable, and indeed, in some ways praise worthy, but if we approach the hawker problem entirely from the point of view of the hawkers and how their interests could best be served, then there can be no solution to the hawker problem in the sense of reducing the number of hawkers, and controlling such of their activities as are illegal or cause a nuisance.

Mr. Chairman, we must also consider hawkers from the point of view of the Colony as a whole. Is it a good thing that the number of hawkers should increase; each one competing with the other and try to make a living out of the limited amount of business that is available? I think the answer must be no. I need hardly emphasize that Hong Kong is almost total lacking in natural resources or agricultural land. What we have in abundance is our people, who are capable of hard and efficient work. They must be encouraged to take up productive work rather than engaged in hawking, which is a far from efficient way of retailing consumer goods.

Take for instance, the Kowloon City Hawker Bazaar, which has about 700 hawkers stalls. Most of the hawkers will have assistants, so that if we estimate the number of people engaged in hawking in this Bazaar at about 1,000, it will be a conservative figure. I have no figure for the amount of goods sold per day in this Bazaar, but if the Bazaar were organized under one controlling body on the lines of a supermarket, then I am sure the number of persons required to control the whole operation will not exceed one or two hundred. The difference represents the number of persons whose working capability has been wasted and who are non-productive. For their own good, as well as the good of Hong Kong as a whole, they should be persuaded to take up more productive occupations.