13
CONFIDENTIAL
香港總督府
RECEIVED IN
REGISTRY No. 51
- 6 MAY 1974
нккот
Tex Andow, HKK 5/13
Thet
Jer
GOVERNMENT HOUSE
HONG KONG
27th April 1974
LAST
REF
NEXT
RES
(15)
R&R to me
with
papers
A
I enclose a note by the Commissioner of Labour on Mr. Foggon's recent report. This covers labour legislation referred to in the report. I don't really think its querulous tone is justified and some of the criticisms seem based on factual errors. As no one knows better that Mr. Foggon very substantial progress has been made in labour legislation in Hong Kong in recent years, and as the Commissioner's note shows considerable further progress will be made this year.
With regard to the rest, which is
No
more general, less specific, and less within what he discussed with those concerned here, please await a general despatch. We certainly have a problem this year as a result of wages failing to off-set sharp rises in the cost of living. one is more acutely conscious of this problem than myself, and of the politico/economic considerations involved. But it has to be seen against the broad background of our policies, of what we are trying to do, and of what our commercial and financial situation makes possible. Though Mr. Foggon has no doubt written from the heart, it is a pity he did not discuss his conclusions with those responsible here. It is also a pity that having delayed his report so long, and ventured in it into the field of budgetary policy, he took no account of the most recent budget! For instance, if he had asked, we could have told him that far from being reluctant to borrow or raise taxation to meet deficiencies we have done both, and propose to do much more, and are only concerned at where the money we need is to come from.
A.C. Stuart Esq.
>
yu
Foreign & Commonwealth Office,
London, S. W. 1.
lih
CONFIDENTIAL