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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
peninsula, excluding the New Territories. To pair with the development of satellite towns in the New Territories and to meet the overall local social and economic needs, I suggest that the Council should extend its services to the New Territories, bringing them on a par with that of the urban area of Hong Kong and Kowloon, and work for the public interest of all.
Under the ill effect of the vicious inflation, prices are always on the increase. It is most unreasonable that the allowances for income tax have remained unchanged for six years. At present, the personal allowance is $10,000, with an additional allowance of $2,500. Husband and wife are taxed together. But the additional allowance is only nominal as it is clawed back to nil when income increases. Thus the people are really hard pressed. At the 1976 Annual Conventional Debate, I suggested the personal allowance should be raised to $15,000 and that children's allowance also be raised, dependent parent's allowance restituted and husband and wife taxed separately. The authorities have only made partial adjustments and played with figures. As the cost of living is rising daily and the people are having a hard time, the authorities should envisage the facts and raise the personal allowance to $25,000, with separate taxation for husband and wife while children's and dependent parent's allowances should also be raised proportionally so that the people's difficulties may be alleviated.
With the rapid mounting prices, it is necessary to adjust the salaries of the civil servants. According to the Report on Civil Service Pay, the average pay rise for serving officers is 8%. But to my knowledge, the average increase in pension for the retired civil servants is only 6% and the effective date is six months later than that of the serving officers. In my opinion, the rate of increase should be the same for serving and retired officers alike so that the morale of the civil servants can be heightened and services to the public improved.
Some years earlier, the Governor, Sir Murray MACLEHOSE, outlined a ten-year housing programme in his policy speech. This is indeed a historic and grand project. At the 1975 Annual Conventional Debate, I already advocated that Government should sell public houses to the residents who would pay by instalments so that the Home Ownership Scheme could be put into effect and the sense of belonging of the residents enhanced.
Now the Home Ownership Scheme is being implemented. But I feel that the progress is being slowed down and supply lags behind demand. This even leads to doubts that the public housing programme is not for the people but for profit-making. As the housing problem is becoming more serious each day, the Government should set aside some crown land and invite tenders from the construction firms to help implement the scheme.
In fact, the Hong Kong Government is the big landlord while the people are only tenants. The Government has control of all the land and the length of the lease is determined by the Government at will who can also resume it at any time for redevelopment purposes. The Government is doing whatever it likes. And, there is the high land price policy. Tyranny is fiercer than a tiger. As Hong Kong is a laissez-faire society, the extension of rent control is contrary to economic principles. In the long run, a permanent solution has to be found. To get to the root of the problem, more land has to be developed and more houses built to alleviate the heavy demand. In this way, rents can be stabilized and the general public benefited.
Hong Kong's transport is in a state of chaos. Yet the Government does not plan to provide more car parks facilities, thus resulting in a sharp increase in the number of cars parking in the streets. It does not help much by merely raising the parking fees or imposing heavier fines. There being insufficient car parking spaces, the best solution is to build more car parks. However, as there is a shortage of land in Hong Kong and land prices are extremely high, I suggest the Government should build underground car parks at places where there are parks, markets, and sports grounds. Places like Chater Garden in Central District, Victoria Park in Causeway Bay, Kowloon Park in Tsim Sha Tsui, and MacPherson Playground in Mong Kok are ideal for this kind of underground construction. To attain maximum land use, imaginative designers and developers may fully cherish their ambitions by helping to provide motorists with more much-desired parking facilities.
For more than a hundred years since, Hong Kong has been trying, but in vain, to solve its housing problem, which is especially serious at present. I suggest the Government should fully develop the New Territories to ease the housing problem in the urban area. Apart from extending its services to encompass also the New Territories, the Government should pay attention to the following 8 points:
(a) To protect the rights of the original New Territories inhabitants and, without imposing any condition, allow each male inhabitant at the age of 18 to build a standard village cottage for inhabitation.
(b) To look after the New Territories factories' problem of survival and give consideration to their long-term development.
(c) To ensure that the New Territories residents live and work in peace and contentment.
(d) To find ways to expand transport facilities for the New Territories villages and industrial areas so as to link them up with all parts of Hong Kong and Kowloon.
(e) To preserve the existing New Territories beaches as well as the scenic spots and historic sites.
(f) To raise the education level of the New Territories residents.
(g) To relax the conditions governing the building of houses on farms so as to increase the number of housing units and help solve the housing problem.
(h) To urge the Government to sell Crown land and barren hills at a low price to encourage building constructors to provide more houses for the general public.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
167
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Page 101
Page 100 of 136
166
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
peninsula, excluding the New Territories. To pair with the development of satellite towns in the New Territories and to meet the overall local social and economic needs, 1 suggest that the Council should extend its services to the New Territories, bringing them on a par with that of the urban area of Hong
Kong and Kowloon, and work for the public interest of all.
Under the ill effect of the vicious inflation, prices are always
on the increase. It is most unreasonable that the allowances for income tax have remained unchanged for six years. At present, the personal allowance is $10,000, with an additional allowance of $2,500. Husband and wife are taxed together. But the additional allowance is only nominal as it is clawed back to nil when income increases. Thus the people are really hard pressed. At the 1976 Annual Conventional Debate, I suggested the personal allowance should be raised to $15,000 and that children's allowance also be raised, dependent parent's allowance restituted and husband and wife taxed separately. The authorities have only made partial adjustments and played with figures. As the cost of living is rising daily and the people are having a hard time, the authorities should envisage the facts and raise the personal allowance to $25,000, with separate taxation for husband and wife while children's and dependent parent's allowances should also be raised proportionally so that the people's difficulties may be alleviated.
With the rapid mounting prices, it is necessary to adjust the salaries of the civil servants. According to the Report on Civil Service Pay, the average pay rise for serving officers is 8%. But to my knowledge, the average increase in pension for the retired civil servants is only 6% and the effective date is six months later than that of the serving officers. In my opinion, the rate of increase should be the same for serving and retired officers alike so that the morale of the civil servants can be heightened and services to the public improved.
Some years earlier, the Governor, Sir Murray MACLEHOSE, outlined a ten year housing programme in his policy speech. This is indeed a historic and grand project. At the 1975 Annual Conventional Debate, I already advocated that Government should sell public houses to the residents who would pay by instalments so that the Home Ownership Scheme could be put into effect and the sense of belonging of the residents enhanced.
Now the Home Ownership Scheme is being implemented. But I feel that the progress is being slowed down and supply lags behind demand. This even leads to doubts that the public housing programme is not for the people but for profit-making. As the housing problem is becoming more serious each day, the Government should set aside some crown land and invite tenders from the construction firms to help implementing the scheme.
In fact, the Hong Kong Government is the big landlord while the people are only tenants. The Government has control of all the land and the length of the lease is determined by the Government at will who can also resume it
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Page 100 of 136
167
at any time for redevelopment purposes. The Government is doing whatever it likes. And, there is the high land price policy. Tyranny is fiercer than a tiger. As Hong Kong is a laissez-faire society, the extension of rent control is contrary to economic principles. In the long run, a permanent solution has to be found. To get to the root of the problem, more land has to be developed and more houses built to alleviate the heavy demand. In this way, rents can
be stabilized and the general public benefited.
Hong Kong's transport is in a state of chaos. Yet the Government does not more car parks facilities, thus resulting in a sharp increase plan to provide
the number of cars parking in the streets. It does not help much by merely raising the parking fees or imposing heavier fines. There being insufficient car parking spaces, the best solution is to build more car parks. However, shortage of land in Hong Kong and land prices are extremely as there is a high, I suggest the Government should build underground car parks at places where there are parks, markets and sports grounds. Places like Chater Garden in Central District, Victoria Park in Causeway Bay, Kowloon Park in Tsim Sha Tsui and MacPherson Playground in Mong Kok are ideal for this kind of underground constructions. To attain maximum land use, the imaginative designers and developers may fully cherish their ambitions by helping to provide motorists with more much desired parking facilities.
For more than a hundred years since, Hong Kong has been trying, but in vain, to solve its housing problem, which is especially serious at present. I suggest the Government should fully develop the New Territories to ease the housing problem in the urban area. Apart from extending its services to encompass also the New Territories, the Government should pay attention to the following 8 points:-
(a) To protect the rights of the original New Territories inhabitants and, without imposing any condition, allow each male inhabitant at the age of 18 to build a standard village cottage for inhabitation.
(b) To look after the New Territories factories' problem of survival and give
consideration to their long-term development.
(c) To ensure that the New Territories residents live and work in peace and
contentment.
(d) To find ways to expand transport facilities for the New Territories villages and industrial areas so as to link them up with all parts of Hong Kong and Kowloon.
(e) To preserve the existing New Territories beaches as well as the scenic
spots and historic sites.
(f) To raise the education level of the New Territories residents.
(8) To relax the conditions governing the building of houses on farms so as to increase the number of housing units and help solve the housing problem.
(h) To urge the Government to sell Crown land and barren hills at a low price to encourage building constructors to provide more houses for the general public.
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Page 101 of 136
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