CODE 18-77
LA 393/1
Reference..
CONFIDENTIAL
Mr Janvrin HK/IOD K 245
THE FABIAN SOCIETY PAMPHLET
1. The defensive material provided by Hong Kong is probably as good as could be expected but I am not very happy about the confidential assessment contained in Hong Kong Telegram 59. Mr England is criticised for assuming that "Hong Kong's problems are best solved by applying principles well suited to British conditions" (Para.3) - a criticism repeated in para.7. So far as housing and education are concerned, these surely are universal and have nothing to do with differences in "life style which exist between Eastern and Western peoples". Indeed, Hong Kong takes credit in the same document for improvements in social welfare. These improvements are based almost entirely on British practice and were in fact devised by an officer seconded from the DHSS in this country. The glaring defect is that Hong Kong has failed to follow what her neighbours in Asia have done in the social services field and has chosen instead Elizabethan poor law.
2. We are entitled, I think, to be worried about the extent to which Hong Kong has fallen behind the standards established by her Asiatic neighbours in the field of social services, labour standards, education and housing. I fear that even friendly MPs are likely to spot this basic flaw in Hong Kong's arguments.
3. It may be that Mr England's assessment is not shared in Hong Kong, but I wonder by whom? If the pamphlet were to be translated into Cantonese we would then find out, but that of course will not happen.
22 January 1976
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