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Mr. W.S. Carter.
Hong Kong Department.
Regarding the attached draft submission I should like to say first that I did not regard the examin- ation of factory inspection arrangements in Hong Kong as being a prior condition for approval to the principle of nightwork for women. We need, however, the commitment of the Hong Kong Government to this re-examination as a pre-condition. On the basis that this would be acceptable to you, I have amended the draft, which means that the only point of difference between us concerns paragraph 6(b).
2.
Here I am in some difficulty. The whole business of nightwork for women has been the subject in this country of a very careful examination by a Working. Party on which the TUC and the CBI were strongly represented. There was a difference of view between the two sides about restrictions on the hours of work of women in factories, though the two sides recognised if any legal restrictions were to remain there were historical and socialogical arguments making the restriction on nightwork the least likely candidate for removal. The whole Report makes heavy reading but the attached press release (Flag A)gives, I think, sufficient background. The Working Party Report was published on 3 March. Only last week, on 15 December, there was an adjournement debate raised by Mr. Maurice Edelman of Coventry North, challenging the conditions under which exemptions against the employment of women at night are granted by the DEP. The debate is recorded in columns 1090 1102 of the Official Report for 16 December (Flag B). I think you will agree, if you glance through this debate, that there remains considerable feeling in this country about the employment of women at night. It is, I think, a reasonable deduction that equal sensitivity would be shown by Parliament to any relaxation of the existing restriction in Hong Kong. In spite of recent improvements in the labour laws in Hong Kong, there remains in the minds of many NPs a lingering belief that Hong Kong is one huge "sweatshop"; wrong though this concept may be, we have to reckon with it. I think that if Lord Shepherd or the Secretary of State were asked to defend a situation where a number of women were employed entirely on night shifts, there would be a very adverse reaction which might imperil general acceptance of the principle of relaxing restrictions on the nightwork of women in Hong Kong.
3. In short, I believe it is right at this point in time, to permit, under approved conditions, the use of discretionary powers by the Commissioner of
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