Secretariat:
T.C. 168/51.
CO.IDENTIAL
"0
No.
LOOGIAL SOME 14 SEP 1951 REGISTRY
Sir,
CONFIDENTIAL
GOVERNMENT HOUSE,
HONG KONG,
10th
September, 1951.
I have the honour to acknowledge receipt
of your Confidential Circular Despatch No. 12254751 of 26th July, 1951, in which you enclosed a memorandum by the Colonial Labour Advisory Committee on Trade Unionism in the Colonies.
2.
FILE
I am in general agreement with the substance and recommendations of the memorandum of the Labour Advisory Committee. In many cases where these recommendations are not already embodied in the trade union legislation of this Colony they were recommended by Mr. R.G.D. Houghton, C.B.E., during his recent visit to Hong Kong, were fully discussed with him and have been noted for implementation as soon as reasonably possible.
3.
In this category are the recommendations regarding the separation of the post of Registrar of Trade Unions from the Labour Department, the increase in the powers of the Registrar, the closer supervision of trade union accounts, further provision for a more satisfactory system of audit, the question of levies, the statutory provision for secret ballot, limitation on persons who may become union officials, disqualification for certain offences and the expansion of trade union education.
4.
There are, however, one or two points on which I do not think that the recommendations of the Labour Advisory Committee, though undoubtedly desirable in certain circumstances, could now be applied in Hong Kong. The most important of these is the suggestion regarding the intro- duction of a system of provisional or probationary regis- tration for new trade unions and the possibility of recog- nising a sub-trade union class of associations.
5.
As you are aware, trade unionism in Hong Kong goes back over a period of many years. It has its roots not only in the traditional guild system of China but also unfortunately in the mass organisation of labour, primarily for political ends, which has been a feature of Chinese life since the Revolution of 1911. Trade unions were very active in the Colony in the years just before the war and again from 1945 onwards. Hong Kong trade union legislation of 1948 did no more than provide a legal frame- work into which existing organisations could fit themselves by conforming to certain standard rules, but it is doubtful whether such conformity has ever been more than on the surface or whether the Ordinance has, in fact, made any impression on the actual organisation and methods of more than a few unions.
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
JAMES GRIFFITHS, M.P.
CONFIDENTIAL
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