Mr Murray
PS/Lord Goronwy Roberts
کھیے
PS/Ld G-R.
(55)
Letter to issue 16
Senator of State
مد جالا
горь
Flag A
Flag B
Flag C
Flag D
るみ
HONG KONG: ILLEGAL EMPLOYMENT OF CHILDREN
تصلحنا
Af
Swall
1716.
1. The Secretary of State commented on my submission of 14 March relating to a letter from Mr William Rodgers MP about the illegal employment of children under the age of 14 in industrial establish- ments in Hong Kong: "I cannot say that I am very happy about this. What are we doing about increasing the fines for employing children? Can I have a follow-up report on tougher action which might be taken?". (Mr Dales minute of 21 March.)
2. The department had raised the question of the level of fines with the Hong Kong Government following the Granada TV "World in Action" programme on 13 December 1976 and in the light of the Secretary of State's comments there was an exchange of telegrams with Hong Kong. Mr Milton reported on developments in his submission of 4 April, as a result of which Lord Goronwy-Roberts wrote to the Governor of Hong Kong asking him to raise with the Chief Justice the
question of stiffer sentences for offenders against the law on the
illegal employment of children and suggesting that a minimum fine be introduced.
Flag E 3. In his reply on 2 May the Governor pointed out that the level
GA
of the maximum fine was to be increased from HK$5,000 to HK$10,000
(this has since been done) and said that the Chief Justice intended to advise magistrates to impose stiffer sentences than they have been doing. On the other hand, the Governor rejected the suggestion of a minimum fine. The Chief Justice had represented to him that cases differed greatly: from the employer who was guilty of little more than failure to make sufficient enquiries into a child's age, to the manufacturer who set out deliberately to employ children for a depressed wage and took elaborate precautions to avoid detection. The Attorney-General was also opposed on the grounds that a high minimum fine could result in magistrates being reluctant to convict in less serious cases.