CONFIDENTIAL
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ILO CONVENTIONS
6. In the revised programme, I met both Mr Ho and Mr Williams only socially. Neither referred to ILO Conventions, and I saw no point in raising the subject myself, in view of Mr Hurst's concurrent visit.
IMMIGRATION
7. Nothing I saw caused me to have any doubts about the current Hong Kong Government policy on immigration from China. In the first two months of this year the number of legal immigrants has risen again to over 100 a day, which means that, together with illegals, getting on for 50,000 will arrive in a full year - a rate of population growth which will be difficult for Hong Kong to absorb. There is no doubt that immigrants are treated humanely when caught, and although I am not entirely convinced that the "prisoner's friend" proposal would be as difficult to adopt as Hong Kong make out, it would be a fairly token gesture and one, I suggest, that we need not pursue unless we come under pressure at this end to do so.
EDUCATION
8. Again, Mr Topley had been dropped from my official programme, though I met (and liked) him several times socially. He told me that he had just got round to replying to the offer of Inspectors from the UK to help improve the quality of education. He was very anxious for it to be understood that in giving (as I understand he has) a less than enthusiastic reply, he was not unappreciative of the offer of help.
9. A number of people expressed grave doubts about the speed at which the Government was moving on education particularly on the proposal to introduce free, compulsory secondary schools before enough places are available in government schools. This has resulted in the government having to "buy" large numbers of places in private schools, not all of them, schools of the highest quality.
10. Notwithstanding this,;, education struck me as a sector where the Government could usefully step up its spending. There remains a large, unfulfilled demand for higher education: the Universities accept only one out of every three qualified applicants and the Hong Kong Polytechnic only one out of every ten. The rate at which graduates find jobs suitable to their qualifications suggests that there would be no immediate danger of creating graduate unemployment in allowȧng a modest expansion of Higher Education facilities.
LABOUR PROBLEMS IN THE CIVIL SERVICE
11.
The meeting with Mr Bridge having been dropped from my revised programme, I had no opportunity to discuss the problem of the Shorthand and Audio Typists Association (though several people volunteered to me that they thought this was a case where we in London had got a fairly minor problem quite out of proportion).
CONFIDENTIAL
/AIR SERVICES