نطرة
CONFIDENTIAL
RECEIVED IN REGISTRY No. 51
18 APR 1974
HKK 5/13
Sir Murray MacLehose KCMG MBE
Governor
HONG KONG
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London S.W.1
4 April 1974
LAST
REF.
NEX1
REF
Mr. Wotter Han PIA
5
Dear Murray,
LABOUR AND SOCIAL AFFAIRS IN HONG KONG
1. I believe the Overseas Labour Adviser has sent you a copy of the report which he has written following his visit to Hong Kong in February. However, I attach an additional copy of the report in case the first one is still winding its way through the machine. Mr Ennals mentioned this report in his reply to Mr Sillars' PQ on 27 March, when he said: Overseas Labour Adviser recently paid a visit to the Colony. I expect his report shortly. I think that it will throw new light on the situation". This was on the lines agreed with you beforehand.
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the
2. The fact of the report is therefore now public knowledge and there is likely to be continued parliamentary interest; but even without this the whole subject of labour affairs may well be of continuing concern to our Ministers. Lord Goronwy- Roberts told Andrew Stuart in a preliminary discussion with him last week that, together with Education affairs, this was a subject of interest to him.
3. Clearly we will have to submit the report soon. Lord Goronwy-Roberts has already asked for this. But I am reluctant to do so without comments from you, since there are bound to be questions from Ministers about the implicitly critical passages. It would be unfortunate and misleading to present it to them except against the background of your general social programme. Given that this will be the first detailed report submitted to them since the change of Government in the UK, I imagine that you would want to set it in the context of the wider internal policies of Hong Kong as well as of what you are doing and planning to do about the points covered in the report (which was, of course, written before the present Budget was presented and debated).
41. In fact, the report itself gives the opportunity for this, since it touched on the budgetary philosophy of Hong Kong and what is happening to the cost of living of the comion man, as a lead-in to the thought that without minimum wage legislation or strong unions there may be little to protect the
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CONFIDENTIAL
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