BACKGROUND NOTE
THE GOVERNOR OF HONG KONG
1.
Sir Murray MacLehose, who was born on 16 October 1917, was appointed Governor of Hong Kong on 19 November 1971, initially
for 5 years.
His appointment was extended in 1976 and again in 1977. On 22 March it was announced that The Queen had approved a third extension of his term until August 1979. Prior to his appointment to Hong Kong Sir Murray, who is a member of the Diplomatic Service, served in China, Czechosolvakia, New Zealand and France before being appointed Ambassador to South Vietnam (1967) and Denmark (1969).
2.
Though
Sir Murray's Governorship has been marked by important advances in almost all fields of development in Hong Kong. it may be true that the achievements of the past 7 years seem so remarkable because so little had been done before and though it may also be true that Hong Kong still has a long way to go in many fields to reach standards that would be acceptable in this country, neither of these facts should be allowed to obscure the very real progress that has been made under Sir M MacLehose's leadership. Some of the more important
achievements are:
i)
Housing
2m. people are now living in Government low-cost housing (about 50% more than 7 years ago, but there has also been a substantial improvement in quality) and a programme has been launched to increase this to about 32m. by the mid-1980s. The Government have also just started a Home Ownership Scheme under which people in the lower middle income bracket will be able to purchase flats with Government help.
ii) Education
Free education is now to be provided for all children up to 15 yrs (previously only primary education was free and compulsory); the number of university places has been increased by over 50% - not including the substantial increase in higher education opportunities represented by the foundation of the Hong Kong Polytechnic in 1972.