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Passing of the '100 days of blunders'

You may regard this week as significant because of Tung Chee-hwa's policy address, but there was another notable milestone that attracted little attention.

Wednesday marked the passing of the 100 Days of Wonders - the rattling $20 million-plus promotion aimed at maintaining tourist numbers after the handover.

May the campaign - unkindly dubbed the '100 Days of Blunders' - rest in peace. Its existence was troubled soon after most visitors disappeared within a few days of the end of formal handover festivities.

Demand for 'Wonder Drinks', 'Wonder Meals' and other such wonderful ideas was lukewarm at best.

A spokesman for the Hong Kong Tourist Association yesterday took a far-sighted view of matters, saying it was focusing on winter and spring campaigns.

He also put a brave face on the promotion's apparent lack of success.

'The downturn would have been much worse without it,' he said.

Yesterday's stock exchange debut by Rising Development Holdings, a fur-garment designer and manufacturer, bore all the hallmarks of success.

The portion of its shares on offer to the public was more than 40 times subscribed, there was talk about retail expansion in the mainland, and to top it all, there was the company's name.

Could a group called Rising possibly experience bad market fortunes? Unfortunately, the answer, at least for yesterday, was in the affirmative.

Perhaps hurt by the comments of a certain Mr Greenspan in the US on Wednesday night, the company had an inauspicious start to its long and winding sharemarket road.

By the close of trade, its shares had tumbled 15 per cent.

No word yet on any name change.

Tung Chee-hwa may have outlined plans in his policy address to spend billions of dollars, but the Government seems to be having ongoing problems with its small change.

In case you don't know, souvenir hunters and coin shops have been hoarding Hong Kong coins bearing the queen's head, now that no more are to be made.

Ironically, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority last month turned to Britain's Royal Mint for 700 million new coins - with the queen's head conspicuously absent - to meet chronic shortages.

Coins seem to have become harder to find in recent days. Queues at certain bank branches early in the morning are far outstripping already formidable lines for standard banking services.

We're told 'no more coins' signs have been going up soon after branches open.

Still on the great coin cull, a couple of tips have popped up from public-spirited citizens.

One brave suggestion to help beat the crisis is to allow shares to trade across $1 spreads.

However, this could be hard on some stocks - particularly those trading for a matter of cents.

What do you give the man who has everything - even an airport? Try a caricature.

Airport Authority boss Hank Townsend, 65 yesterday, was surprised by an unusual gift from his wife last night.

After a customary hard day at the office, he was taken aback when he ripped off the wrapping to see his own image staring back at him.

It was the drawing of him which appeared in this column last week, following our suggestion that Chek Lap Kok airport should be given a name easier to pronounce.

Lai See proposed it be renamed Town's End airport, after Hank himself.

We suspect official namers out there will ignore our advice, but at least Hank can dream on, helped by the image on his wall.

Who said speculation has been at the root of the huge rises in the cost of housing in Hong Kong? If Swire Properties general manager Mike Moir is to be believed, it is nothing more than a secondary factor. Mr Moir told a slightly sceptical press briefing this week that speculation was an effect of high prices and not a cause.

'Speculators don't cause prices to increase. They're there because prices are increasing,' he said.

Reporters did not quite swallow this, and continued to press him on the point, but the unflinching Mr Moir continued to repeat his argument throughout the quizzing.

He also asserted that - contrary to conventional wisdom - he is not keen to have speculators active.

'There is no doubt about it that developers really prefer to sell to end-users and that speculators are a headache to us,' Mr Moir said.

Please spare a thought, then, for suffering property developers as they try to fend off those nasty speculators.

Transplants-A scene from Switzerland? Perhaps something out of Hampstead Heath? Apparently not. This is the feature photograph of a brochure advertising the Sino Group's Scenic Gardens residential development in Yuen Long. Endless gently rolling hills, trains from the future and racy red sports cars figure prominently in the lengthy brochure that makes Yuen Long look like the ultimate paradise. There is a slight caveat near the back of the publication: 'Photos and information in this brochure are for brief reference only'. We may bear that in mind.

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