Mr Crawley suggests that another group of Hong Kong residents are being given preferential treatment to the wives and widows of former servicemen. I assume that he is referring to the British Nationality (Hong Kong) Selection Scheme of 1990 which was devised to tackle an entirely different problem, namely that of emigration from Hong Kong. This scheme was introduced at a time when confidence in Hong Kong was at a low ebb. The object of the scheme was to reassure key personnel in the public and private sectors by offering them the chance of obtaining British citizenship without having to leave Hong Kong. In this way it was hoped to reduce the damaging effect of emigration by providing the assurance of the right of abode in the UK to a significant number of these important people and so to anchor them in Hong Kong.
ALASTAIR GOODLAD
JEDAAX