5. HONG KONG HAS A LAND AREA OF 404 SQUARE MILES, OF WHICH ONLY ABOUT ONE QUARTER IS SUITABLE FOR URBAN-TYPE DEVELOPMENT AND AGRICULTURE, MOST OF THE REMAINDER IS STEEP, UNPRODUCTIVE HILLSIDES AND WATERLESS 19LANDS. BUT, EVEN ON THE BASIS OF ITS TOTAL AREA, HONG KONG, IF NOT THE MOST DENSELY POPULATED TERRI Y IN THE WORLD, IS CERTAINLY THE MOST DENSELY POPULATED IN THIS REGION: WITH A POPULATION OF 4.7 MILLION IN MID-1978; THE OVERALL DENSITY PER SQUARE MILE WAS NEARLY 12,000. TAKING THE METROPOLITAN AREAS ALONE, THE DENSITY PER SQUARE MILE WAS OF THE ORDER OF 67,000, NO LESS.
6. THESE DENSITIES RESULT FROM PAST SURGES IN THE SIZE OF HONG KONG'S POPULATION WHICH HAVE BEEN REYOND OUR CONTROL: RATHER THAN HIGH RATES OF NATURAL INCREASE: FROM A POST-WAR LOW OF 600,000 IN 1945 THE POPULATION QUADRUPLED TO NEARLY 2.5 MILLION BY 1955 AND THEN INCREASED BY ANOTHER 1.2 MILLION TO 3.7 MILLION BY 1965. OVER THIS 20-YEAR PERIOD THE AVERAGE ANNUAL GROWTH RATE HAS 0.5-070. 37 1974 THE POPULATION HAD INCREPSED BY ANOTHER 600,000 TO 4,3 MILLION, BUT AT LEAST THE AVERAGE ANNUAL GROWTH RATE OVER THE 9-YEAR PERIOD 1965-74 WAS AS LOW AS 1.7-0/0. THIS WAS BECAUSE TOTAL NET IMMIGRATION AMOUNTED TO ONLY 260,000 AND THERE WAS A STEADY FALL IN THE RATE OF NATURAL INCREASE DUE TO DEMOGRAPHIC FACTORS AND A WIDER AWARENESS OF THE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC BENEFITS OF FAMILY PLANNING. DURING 1975 AND 1976, NET IMMIGRATION FELL RIGHT AWAY AND, INDEED, EMIGRANTS EXCEEDED IMMIGRANTS BY 10,000 OR SO SEMICOLON AND THE AVERAGE ANNUAL GROWTH RATE OF THE POPULATION FELL TO 1.4-0/0. BUT IN 1977 THE SATISFACTORY DECLINE IN THE RATE OF NATURAL INCREASE BEGAN TO DE OFFSET AGAIN BY AN INFLOW OF IMMIGRANTS: NET IMMIGRATION ROSE SHARPLY TO 33,000 IN 1977 AND TO 96,000 IN 1978, THESE FIGURES ARE SEEN IN A WORRYING PERSPECTIVE IF ONE COMPARES THEM WITH THE NATURAL INCREASE IN EACH OF THESE TWO YEARS OF JUST UNDER 57,000.
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BUT IT WAS NOT UNTIL THE AUTUMN OF 1978 THAT WE BEGAN TO RE REALLY ALARMED WITH THE SITUATION FACING US. THE GROSS INFLOW OF IMMIGRANTS, LEGAL AND ILLEGAL (BUT EXCLUDING REFUGEES) FROM CHINA AND ELSEWHERE ACCELERATED FROM AN AVERAGE OF LESS THAN 5,000 PER MONTH IN THE FIRST SIX MONTHS OF 1978 TO OVER 13,000 PER MONTH IN THE SECOND SIX MONTHS SEMICOLON AND WAS MORE THAN 22,000 PER MONTH IN THE FIRST THREE MONTHS OF THIS YEAR. TO PUT THESE FLOWS IN TERMS OF AGGREGATE FIGURES: IN THE 27 MONTHS ENDING MARCH 1979 HONG KONG'S GROSS INTAKE OF LEGAL AND ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS FROM CHINA AND ELSEWHERE WAS OVER 200,000, OR MORE THAN ONE AND A HALF TIMES THE NATURAL INCREASE IN THAT PERIOD.
9.
AGAINST THIS BACKGROUND, IT IS NOT SURPRISING THAT WE NOW VIEW THE CURRENT INFLOW OF REFUGEES FROM INDOCHINA, OR MORE PARTICULARLY OF BOAT PEOPLE FROM VIETNAM, WITH SUCH GRAVE CONCERN. BETWEEN 1975 AND THE LATTER PART OF 1978, WE TOOK IN ABOUT 15,000 PEOPLE FROM VIETNAM: SOME WERE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS AND SOME WERE PEOPLE WITH A SUBSTANTIAL HONG KONG CONNECTION WHO WERE REPATRIATED ON CHARTER FLIGHTS ORGANISED BY THE HONG KONG GOVERNMENT WITH THE COOPERATION OF THE VIETNAMESE AUTHORITIES, THESE 15,000 PEOPLE ARE INCLUDED IN THE FIGURES OF NET IMMIGRANTION FOR THOSE YEARS. SINCE NOVEMBER 1978, HOWEVER, THERE HAS BEEN A SHARP ACCELERATION IN THE NUMBER OF REFUGEES ARRIVING EITHER IN OCEAN-GOING SHIPS, WHICH WE BELIEVE TO HAVE BEEN SPECIALLY ACQUIRED FROM THE PURPOSE OF LIFTING LARGE NUMBER OF FARE-PAYING "PASSENGERS', OR IN JUNKS AND OTHER SMALL BOATS SAILING DIRECT FROM VIETNAM. SO FAR THIS YEAR, UP TO THE END OF APRIL, TWO OCEAN-GOING SHIPS AND 251 JUNKS AND SMALL BOATS HAD ARRIVED. AS A RESULT, WE NOW HAVE 22,821 REFUGEES FROM VIETNAM IN HONG KONG, OF WHOM UNHCR HAVE SO FAR PROCESSED AND PROVIDED MAINTENANCE AND ACCOMMODATION FOR ONLY 5,931.
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