been created within the United Kingdom by
the large influx of immigrants, the dependent
territories still find this difficult to
accept in so far as it affects them personally.
Most of the territories are small
except Hong Kong, which is a very special
problem for us.
Because of its proximity to
China and the existence of the Leased
Territories, Hong Kong cannot become independent
by itself. Hong Kong has coped with enormoUS
problems since the war, including the
absorption of large numbers of refugees from
China. Its population has expanded from under
a million in 1947 to nearly 4 million in
1967. Hong Kong has achieved all this from
within its own resources and with very
little help indeed, apart from the
stationing of troops in Hong Kong. Only lust
year Hong Kong were pressed to increase their
contribution to defence costs by some
£n. per annum. Those in Hong Kong readily
admit that Hong Kong can only exist if we
continue to defend it, but they also feel
that apart from this we have given them very
little physical demonstration of our support
for them. Only a few years ago we had to
restrict exports of textiles from Hong Kong
because of the effects these were having on
our own industries in Lancashire. There is
little doubt that Hong Kong will suffer con-
siderably if we join the E.E.C. Hong Kong has
been affected very considerably by the
Commonwealth immigration controls and they
regard this as yet another example of our
real