5
10.
However, the main point of this introduction is to say that
Hong Kong is a very complex place, and quite a lot which may be relevant
is going on or under process, and that the questions put by my ostensibly
simple terms of reference raise many issues which neither I nor my
colleagues have as yet had time to explore as fully as they should be.
For instance, a question of substantial relevance is the overall
distribution of income, and the actual impact of taxation and social
provisions upon it; the peculiarities of the Hong Kong situation here
make this a point deserving detailed study. Again, I accept (from
personal observation over a period, for instance) that there has
undoubtedly been a very significant rise in the worker's standard of
life in Hong Kong over, say, the last decade. But I am unable to
comment on the precision of the indices available to measure this rise
(except to say that it is unfortunate that data is available only on
wage rates, not on actual earnings) nor on the validity or otherwise of
such common statements as that real wages in Hong Kong are second in Asia
only to those of Japan, because I have not had time to study the data in
detail and especially its methods of construction.
J
11.
Similarly, I understand that before the 1967 upheavals a practice
of regular collective agreement had developed in certain industries
which subsequently collapsed; again there has been no time to examine the
back history of labour relations and disputes or even their present
detailed state in several industries to the extent that one might wish,
to fully understand the present state of affairs. Nor, again, would I
care at this stage to comment on the total effect of all the detailed
labour legislation which has been passed in recent years or is in
prospect, or on the adequacy of the present Labour Department's staff
resources to enforce and apply it beyond the remarks, first, that
whatever their historical effects I do not think the laws bearing on
labour relations are now (taking into account their prospective amend-
ment) a major obstacle to the latters' development in Hong Kong; and
second, that to the best of my observation, present regulations on
labour conditions and terms of employment are on the whole as
scrupulously administered as lies in the Labour Department's power. (I
would certainly say that the enforcement of the regulations relating to
labour conditions is considerably more effective than in many developing
countries with superficially more elaborate protective legislation.)
/12. This