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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
in niches provided. This assures a turnover in land use and assures that burial can be arranged if it is so desired.
The price of grave plots is subject to the agreement of this Council, and we have to satisfy ourselves that the prices are reasonable with reference to the actual costs of their construction plus the cost of future maintenance.
With our By-laws now in force, we have now been able, or at least have the mechanism for putting an end to all forms of extortion on prices of grave plots at times of grief. It took nearly six years of work to achieve this aim. We will watch how, and will see that, this mechanism works.
Although the Urban Council is not charged in any way with the duty to discourage "rich" people who would provide expensive coffins, luxurious funerals, and other ceremonies beyond what they can afford, yet by means of providing services which are dignified enough, fitting enough, respectable enough, and decent enough, we do gradually change and improve the creed and custom of the people. For instance, when our Hung Hom Funeral Depot is completed in 1976, the Urban Council will, in fact, be able to provide funeral facilities which are comparable to those offered by commercial funeral parlours. This will demonstrate to members of the public that the Urban Council will not only care for the poor but will care for the middle class and even all classes of members of the community as far as services relating to deaths are concerned.
With our experience in the past years and the degree to which Chinese creed and custom have so far changed as to make them more adaptable to the modern environment, we think that we are on the right track and most probably our policy has been well-framed in the past. In simpler words, we will try to see that decent and dignified services will continue to be provided at a reasonable cost to the members of the public, and we will naturally see that people will accept our services as adequate to meet everybody's requirements.
We may encounter problems regarding certain subscribers' plots in certain cemeteries because of legal complications, but I, as the Chairman of the Cemeteries Select Committee, hope that we may probably see that these problems can be solved in the coming year.
Mr. Chairman, may I make a few comments relating to markets? In spite of a number of auctions of market places, we have still a great number of vacant stalls in our markets which are supposed
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Page 139 of 187
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to be in great demand, and we have a number of programmes in building them as capital projects. This undesirable state of affairs indicates that there is a waste of space and reduction of income to the Urban Council. Therefore, I would like to see that all of them will be made use of in one way or the other in the interest of the members of the public. For illustration, we have a great number of vacant stalls left vacant since 1954, like stall 83 in the Wan Chai Market.
One of the ways I can think of to make use of these market places would be to rent them either as storage places or, if this is not feasible or acceptable to the market trade, they can be converted into reading rooms for students in those congested areas.
Because I am involved personally in the securities industries in Hong Kong, I cannot finish my speech without making a few comments on the economic situation of the Colony.
Looking back over the past months, it was bad and unsatisfactory on all fronts internationally—the stock market, the commodity market, the exchange market, the money market, and probably all kinds of markets. Locally, we have an unusual mixture of recession, inflation, social unrest, increased violent crimes, reduced economic growth, and reduced national output—almost all the bad situations that can be found in any economic dictionary. It must be pointed out, however, that not all things were being caused by the oil crisis on which we almost lay all blame. Said so rightly by Viscount Davignon, Chairman of the International Energy Agency, that the oil price increase revealed serious cracks in our system, but he did not think that our system is fundamentally at fault. According to my view, delayed or untimely legislation are some of these cracks. Another crack or weakness in our democratic system, said by the Editor of The Economist, is precisely about winning votes for the Government. No Government can afford any kind of survival strategy because such a strategy may mean losing votes. In a broad sense, "votes" would mean any power to seat or unseat a Government. In Hong Kong, the situation is more or less the same, and the Government cannot design any survival strategy on behalf of the Colony without affecting the feelings of the United Kingdom Government. This can be demonstrated by the handling of our reserves in the United Kingdom.
In a situation like this, when all experts in the world assess some kind of economic collapse in the coming year, no one, including the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the President of the United States, can provide a panacea to cope with it. The fears and the
238
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
in niches provided. This assures a turnover in land use and assures that burial can be arranged if it is so desired.
The price of grave plots are subject to agreement of this Council and we have to satisfy ourselves that the prices are reasonable with reference to the actual costs of their construction plus the cost of future maintenance.
With our By-laws now in force we have now been able or at least have the mechanism for putting an end to all forms of extortion on prices of grave plots at times of grief. It took nearby six years of work to achieve this aim. We will watch how, and will see that, this mechanism works.
Although the Urban Council is not charged in any way with the duty to discourage "rich" people who would provide expensive coffins, luxurious funerals and other ceremonies beyond what they can afford, yet by means of providing services which are dignified enough, fitting enough, respectable enough and decent enough, we do gradually change and improve the creed and custom of the people. For instance, when our Hung Hom Funeral Depot is completed in 1976, the Urban Council will, in fact, be able to provide funeral facilities which are comparable to those offered by commercial funeral parlours. This will demonstrate to members of the public that the Urban Council will not only care for the poor but will care for the middle class and even all classes of members of the community as far as services relating to deaths are concerned.
With our experience in the past years and the degree of Chinese creed and custom, we have so far changed as to make them more adaptable to modern environment, we think that we are on the right track and most probably our policy has been well-framed in the past. In simplier words, we will try to see that decent and dignified services will continue to be provided at reasonable cost to the members of the public and we will naturally see that people will accept our services as adequate to meet everybody's requirements.
We may encounter problems regarding certain subscribers' plots in certain cemeteries because of legal complications but I, as the Chair- man of the Cemeteries Select Committee, hope that we may probably see that these problems can be solved in the coming year.
Mr. Chairman, may I make a few comments relating to markets. In spite of a number of auctions of market places, we have still a great number of vacant stalls in our markets which are supposed
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Page 139 of 187
239
to be in great demand and we have a number of programmes in build- ing them as capital projects. This undesirable state of affairs indicate that there is a waste of space and reduction of income to the Urban Council. Therefore, I would like to see that all of them will be made use of in one way or the other in the interest of the members of the public. For illustration, we have a great number of vacant stalls left vacant since 1954, like stall 83 in the Wan Chai Market.
One of the ways I can think of to make use of these market places would be to rent them either as storage places or, if this is not feasible or acceptable to the market trade, they can be converted into reading rooms for students in those congested areas.
Because I am involved personally in the Securities industries in Hong Kong, I cannot finish my speech without making a few com- ments on the economic situation of the Colony.
Looking back over the past months, it was bad and unsatisfactory on all fronts internationally-the stock market, the commodity market, the exchange market, the money market and probably all kinds of markets. Locally, we have an unusual mixture of recession, inflation, social unrest, increased violent crimes, reduced economic growth and reduced national output-almost all the bad situations that can be found in any economic distionary. It must be pointed out, however, that not all things were being caused by the oil crisis on which we almost lay all blame. Said so rightly by Viscount Davignon, Chair- man of the International Energy Agency, that the oil price increase revealed serious cracks in our system but he did not think that our system is fundamentally at fault. According to my view, delayed or untimely legislation are some of these cracks. Another crack or weakness in our democratic system, said by the Editor of Economist, is precisely about winning votes for the Government. No Government can afford any kind of survival strategy because such strategy may mean losing votes. In a broad sense, "votes" would mean any power to seat or unseat a Government. In Hong Kong, the situation is more or less the same and the Government cannot design any survival strategy on behalf of the Colony without affecting the feelings of the United Kingdom Government. This can be demonstrated by the handling of our reserves in United Kingdom.
In a situation like this, when all experts in the world assess some kind of economic collapse in the coming year, no one including the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the President of the United States can provide a panacea to cope with it. The fears and the
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