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pensions, sickness insurance, or widows and orphans pensions. It is sometimes argued in Hong Kong that the local Chinese population see no necessity for such a scheme since they can rely on the traditional family structure to provide support in times of difficulty and that in any case, they would resent having to contribute resources to a compulsory scheme when the money can be more productively employed elsewhere. If so, it is difficult to account for the success of the comparable
scheme in Singapore and there does seem a strong prima facie case for its introduction in Hong Kong. Moreover the introduction of contributory social security would provide some relief to the budgetary relief for social welfare. Alternatively it would make possible more generous provision for those who fall through the safety net of the social security system.
34. Another significant criticism, also based on a comparison with what has been achieved in Singapore, is over the quality of public housing and, to some extent, with the inadequacy of the programme in relation to the public need, as evidenced by the continued existence of squatter settlements. By any other standards, the housing programme has been remarkable but it is by no means clear why it has not been financed by loans recouped from rents and amortised over perhaps twenty or thirty years rather than from current account. Nor is it clear why rents in the public sector are so low. when compared with the private sector. A recent cost of living survey showed that tenants in public housing pay only 6% of their income as rent as compared with 20% in private housing.
35. There is also some criticism in this country of the educational standards of Hong Kong schools, particularly in the private sector on which the Government have to rely at present in the absence of sufficient Government schools. This, combined with the fact that education is not freely available to all up to the age of 16, causes such critics to argue that more resources should be made available for public Page 183 of 203
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7386 D073815 140M 5/74 Cr.P.C. Gp.839/3
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