PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL
Reference............................
regards the Ombudsman, Executive Council had already
decided against such an appointment.
3.
For
However, the Governor went on to say that there would be free primary education in Hong Kong from early next year. Compulsory primary education, however, was "not "on". instance, the communist schools would create a problem
perhaps leading to trouble with mainland China. Again,
what would be done about the children of fishermen? the
Government could not enforce a law imposing compulsory primary education and he was not prepared to introduce
gimmicks. On housing, he said that there had always been a crash programme. Forty per cent of the population were now in Government financed or Government aided housing.
The capacity for accelerating the programme was not there -
materials or labour. In the past the main effort had been
concentrated on rushing up buildings to give people a roof
over their heads. There was a problem now in providing amenities for the resettled squatters, eating places in particular. As to the Ombudsman, Executive Council were against the proposal. The UMELCO were beginning to work well with Mr. Primrose as their new Executive Secretary;
the unofficial members were able to do much more than an
Ombudsman could do. He took up the old point that it
would be very difficult to find somebody for the job.
also said that he himself had at first been inclined to
favour the idea but that he was now against it.
He
4. I had to decide quickly what line I should take in
reply. I was still feeling my way so I stressed that, as
I understood the position, the letter had been written in
a desire to help the Hong Kong authorities to improve the Colony's image to the outside world. The fact that the
Secretary of State himself had sent the letter was a clear
indication of the importance which the new Government attached to Hong Kong. I said little about housing but on
education said that I understood that most, if not all, of
the countries surrounding Hong Kong had systems of
compulsory primary education and that as regards the
Ombudsman, provided great care were taken to explain
beforehand exactly what the new office would and would not be able to do and how the "Commissioner" would function
on balance the creation of the new set-up would, we thought,
do more good
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