G.F. 316
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Executive and Legislative Councils would like to express their views on a number of these important topics at the beginning of the visit, so that these views could be borne in mind in subsequent discussions.
2.
Lord GORONWY-ROBERTS said he was grateful for the opportunity to hear the views of the Unofficial Members at this juncture. He would do no more on this
occasion than give his initial comments on any of the points raised.
3.
Hon. Sir Y.K. KAN then explained he would be speaking as the spokesman of his UMELCO colleagues, who had reached an unanimous view on the topics to be discussed. Some of his colleagues would however be speaking to
amplify the points made by him.
The points raised would
not be in order of priority of importance.
t.
Hon. Sir Y.K. KAN then referred to 7 topics as
contained in the UMELCO brief attached to these notes. The observations made by other Unofficial Members and Lord GORONWY-ROBERTS' comments on each of the topics are
summarised below:-
(1) DEATH SENTENCE
(i) Hon. F.C. WCO stressed the Chinese
viewpoint that capital punishment was a deterrent against violent crime, and referred to the practice in nearby territories which also have a large Chinese population. Hon. O.V. CHEUNG stated that over the last 10 years
homicides had risen from between 10 and
15 per annum to as many as a hundred, with a serious increase also in other types of violent crimes such as robbery and rape. The
Unofficial Members believed this to be at least
partly attributable to the death penalty not being carried out in Hong Kong. The Unofficial Members appreciated the stand adopted by
/Farliament,
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