third attempt. They would have no interest at all in minimising the harshness of the punishment that faces them on their return. The evidence confirms that the Chinese authorities regard an
attempt to cross illegally into Hong Kong as a civil misdemeanour calling for "social re-education" and fines rather than imprison-
ment or any other more severe penalty.
5. The fact that the would-be immigrants are being returned to a country with a communist regime attracts particularly critical attention in this country. Nonetheless, the people concerned
cannot be regarded as refugees, in the sense of people fleeing from persecution. Many of them come from poor rural areas, and they are simply attracted to Hong Kong by the prospect of a higher material standard of living. None of those repatriated has ever claimed to be a political refugee.
6.
The Hong Kong Government try to deal with detained immigrants as humanely as possible. All cases are normally dealt with within a maximum of forty-eight hours. During that time, the immigrants are kept in a modern detention centre. They are fed and given new clothes if necessary. A doctor visits the centre every day. The Government do not provide legal advice to the detainees, nor is legal aid available. But the detainees are allowed access to legal counsel through their relatives or friends in Hong Kong, provided that this does not unduly delay consideration of their cases. All detainees have the right to appeal to the Governor if they believe the decision in their particular case is unjusti-
fied.
7. As well as the problem of illegal immigration, the Hong Kong Government faces a problem over legal immigrants from China.
As
a general rule, the Hong Kong Government allow into Hong Kong anybody from China to whom the Chinese Government have given an exit permit. However, in 1973, when over 56,000 legal immigrants arrived from China, it was considered that the numbers were higher than Hong Kong could cope with. An informal agreement was
/therefore