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"On the other hand," it continued, "some illegal immigrants come here in search of a better life. They work hard for a living and can help local ·· enterprises to develop. In addition, they deposit whatever savings they have into local banks," the paper said.
The paper urged the Government to pay more attention to this matter when reviewing its immigration policy.
"What Hong Kong needs are useful andividuals with technical skills, not blood-sucking immigrants," it concluded.
Dispute over new estate shop tenancy lease
It has been reported that representatives of shop-keepers in the 23 public housing estate will stage a mass demonstration outside Central Government Offices on July 4 in an attempt to make the Housing Department scrap its shop tenancy agreement plan.
Three papers commented on the issue editorially.
Hong Kong Times (1.7.74) and Tin Tin Yat Po (1.7.74) were against the staging of such a mass demonstration.
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"The public are generally in sympathy with estate shop tenants. fact, after so many years of hard work, there should be some form of security for their rights," Hong Kong Times pointed out.
"However, their 'mass demonstration' plan is unwise, because the authorities will not give in under pressure and the result will even be worse if both parties come to a deadlock situation" the paper contended.
"Shop tenants should fight for their own rights in a sensible, calm and firm manner, and should not be agitated by some people with ulterior motives into doing something disadvantageous to themselves," the paper warned.
The same warning was also raised\by Tin Tin Yat Po.
"Reviewing the main points of the new tenancy lease, it is obvious that the new lease has been greatly improved and is fairer and more advantageous to shop tenants," the paper pointed out.
"In view of this, we cannot understand why some people still want to stage a 'mass petition', as under the new lease, their welfare will be turned into a permanent legal right," the paper contended.
The paper felt that it was unnecessary to hold a demonstration under the present circumstances, unless there were ulterior motives behind the demonstration.
The paper urged the shop tenants not to use the mass demonstration as a means to an end, and at the same time advised the Government to improve its efficiency for handling this long-cxisting dispute.
The communist Ching Po (30.6.74) was more critical of the Government.
"In fact, if the authorities had kept the terms of the original lease unchanged, such a dispute will not have happened today," the paper said.
It urged the authorities to act with discretion in handling this matter as "the livelihood of thousands of shop tenants will be affected".
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