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with him I am quite sure that the Governor is aware of the
delicacy of the issues involved and will be extremely cautious
in his use of this power, assuming it is incorporated in
the final Ordinance.
20. I know too that members are somewhat critical of the
relative weakness and fragmentation of the union movement in
Hong Kong: This is partly the result of the small-scale
nature of industry in Hong Kong, partly the result of political
divisons there. But there may be some provisions of the relevant
legislation which need looking into. We have this much in
mind.
21. I discussed with the Governor the question of unemployment during the present difficult economic climate. Hong Kong Government are watching the situation very closely.
CHILD LABOUR
22. The Hong Kong Research Project has recently published a pamphlet "Child Labour in Hong Kong" written by Mr Robin Porter.
The main criticism in the pamphlet is that in 1971 there were
36,000 children aged between 10 and 14 inclusive who were at
work and that very probably several thousand of them were
working illegally.
23. In the latest of a special series of visits to check on the
illegal employment of children, Labour Department inspectors
recently visited more than 5,000 industrial organisations covering a total labour force of over 112,000. They discovered
only 11 children, one for every 11 premises visited illegally
employed. These figures show that Hong Kong Government is
making a considerable effort to detect and prevent the illegal
employment of children. The fines for offences in this respect
are severe and there is evidence that this is having a deterrent effect. There have been 16 'drives' in the past few years
against illegal employment of the young and recently the number
of offences discovered has markedly declined.
APPLICATION OF ILO CONVENTIONS
24.
Of the 68 International Labour Conventions ratified /by
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