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Crime
CONFIDENTIAL
17. Mr. Stewart asked whether crime was on the increase in Hong Kong as elsewhere. Mr. Sutcliffe said it was, particularly petty thuggery by young men. But the Colony had a very high detection rate, probably the highest in the world: nearly 70 per cent of all crime and 50 per cent of professional crime.
18. Mr. Stewart asked about prisons. Sir David Trench said that the Colony had an advanced prison system. Much of the reafforestation work was done by prisoners. Only one of the Colony's prisons was a maximum security prison, the others were open prisons. In answer to a question about the recividism Mr. Sutcliffe said it was too early to say how many of the young first offenders who had now been given two or three years for thuggery would turn out. There had been success in keeping very young first offenders out of crime. Mr. Roberts said that the figures were distorted by the drug offenders going back to prison again and again.
Local government
19. Mr. Stewart asked about the problem of getting people more interested in local government. Was he right in saying that the present lack of interest was because the two main subjects of concern in local government in the United Kingdom, housing and education, were not matters for local government in Hong Kong? Mr. Holmes said that local government did have influence on housing policy in Hong Kong. The Colony did not have local government district by district; there was an Urban Council covering the whole area, excluding the New Territories. The lack of interest in elections was mainly due to the fact that the election system was not understood in Chinese society. The Chinese had only had a brief experience of such a system from 1911 until the period when the Communists took over: a disastrous period, even by Chinese standards.
20. When asked what sort of people were elected, Sir David Trench said that they were lawyers, teachers and businessmen; somewhat detribalised-not representing the normal attitudes of local Chinese. He was anxious to disentangle local government from Government, i.e., give them separate finances and remove official members of councils. The trouble was the people did not distinguish local government from Government proper. If something went wrong they blamed the Government. Mr. Wellbeloved asked if it was true that the elected members of the urban council had recently walked out and if so why. Sir David Trench said that this was over what reforms were to be expected and when. But this had not even been decided by the Executive Council. Mr. Stewart said this seemed to show that local government was of some interest to some people. Sir David Trench said that the increase in functions was of interest only to the elected members of the Council themselves. Sir Hugh Norman-Walker said that if anyone provided the impetus for an increase in the powers of local government it was the Government itself.
Defence
21. General Eugster said that there were no difficulties about defence matters except in the air force field. A compromise had been agreed with the Ministry of Defence over the provision of air cover for Hong Kong. Extra training would be carried out in the Colony. They would not be able to do anything if anyone flew over Hong Kong air space. The only real problem was who paid for Hong Kong's defence and how much. The cost might go up to £20 million.
CONFIDENTIAL