2600224
C.S. 84
XCR(69)221
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(c)
The Students' Office
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The "Adviser", Students' Office, reports to the Education Department which has always in the past been responsible for the control and administration of this Office, The Adviser looks after the interests of Hong Kong students in Britain, keeps a record of all students and of their placement in universities, Inns of Court and similar institutions, and helps to solve any personal problems that may arise. The Adviser is also the Secretary of the London Selection Board which helps to recruit Hong Kong residents who are temporarily in the United Kingdom for posts in the Hong Kong Civil Service, and which also tries to meet the needs of employers in the private sector.
(d)
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The Chinese Liaison Office
The Chinese Liaison Office, which first took shape in July 1962, is Government's link with the growing number of Hong Kong residents finding employment in Britain, particularly in Chinese restaurants. It grew out of awareness that there was liaison work to be done, and realisation that Mr H. T. Woo (who was in Britain performing other functions related to the Students' Office) might conveniently be employed to do some of it. The 1967 disturbances emphasised the real need to strengthen this Office and to this end Mr David Lai was appointed to undertake a thorough investigation into all aspects of this Office's activities, as well as other matters concerning the Chinese population in Britain, His report was submitted to Government in April 1968 and a paper (XCC(69)30) was recently submitted to Honourable Members making recommendations on the future role of this Office.
Conclusions
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From the foregoing paragraphs it can be seen that there is overlapping in the functions of the four agencies. For example, the Information Section of the London Office has an important contri- bution to make to the work of the Liaison Office and vice versa. The London Office has administrative responsibilities for Hong Kong House. Hong Kong House in turn has the interests of student welfare at heart which is, in effect, the province of the Students' Office. In addition, the fragmentation of the control responsibilities which have been exercised from Hong Kong has also created working difficulties. Whilst the Director of Commerce and Industry is the "housekeeper" for the London Office, the activities of the Office have unavoidably expanded into fields in which the Director of Commerce and Industry has no interest. The Students' Office answers to the Education Depart- ment, but is responsible to the Colonial Secretariat for the London Selection Board, Some rationalisation of these varied activities is clearly desirable.
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Another factor which strengthens the case for the Hong Kong Government to have a central agency in London is the recent merger of the Commonwealth Office and the Foreign Office (see also paragraph 8 above) and the resulting probability that Hong Kong affairs in the
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