28
63
163.
Once an Exchange service was in operation and the con- fidence of the employers and workers established, the next logical action would be an actuarial survey to assess contributions in relation to benefit periods and payments. Subsequent developments covering dependants' benefit could be added as circumstances dictated.
169.
I. L. O. Convention No. 2 of 1919 "Unemployment Convention" provides, inter alia, for the establishment of a system of free public employment agencies under a central authority and the introduction of an established system of insurance against unemploy- ment. The appropriate I.L. 0. Recommendation is, of course, more comprehensive.
170.
It is quito clearly the wish of the workers who are not in sheltered employment that a comprehensive contributory scheme of unemployment insurance be inaugurated and there would be little real opposition on the part of employers to such a scheme. The extent to which the Government would contribute would be a matter for decision in the light of information obtained as a result of the actuarial survey. It is usual for Governments to contribute substantially to schemes of this kind.
171
The arrangements proposed would not appreciably restrict the free movement of workers between Hong Kong and China because the duration of benefit would be strictly related to contributions paid. In this connection it does not seem unreasonable to assume that the population of Hong Kong will be more stable and much less fluid than in the past.
172.
scheme of this kind would keep the Colony ahead of social developments in China where their unemployment scheme, which is not universal, is based, where it exists, on a ló contribution of wages by both employers and workers end is administered by the respective trade unions under the guidance of a committee presided over by the Mayor of the district concerned or his deputy.
173.
While benefit payments are permissible under the unemploy- ment scheme in China, the repatriation of workers in the towns to their respective villages is provided for as is the provision of food stuffs. There is no reason why' any scheme introduced in Hong Kong should not include a provision for repatiration to China where the contributions paid were below a certain figure because this would be an indication that the individual concerned was not a genuine resident of Hong Kong.
174.
If any unemployment scheme covered all the workers in the Colony possibly as many as one million workers I estimate that a minimum of 300 staff would be necessary for the efficient conduct of the work of the .central Claims and Record Office alone and these would have to be trained clerical staff, cither male or female. For this reason it would not be practicable to bring in the full scheme for some time and its inauguration must be on a basis of long term planning. lmost all Social Security Schemes throughout the world were products of long development a relatively modest start and it would, I am sure, be unwise to endeavour to develop a scheme for this kind too rapidly. Nevertheless I feel that this kind of social progress is inevitable.
175.
a
One of the main reasons why an Employment Exchange service has not already been established has been shortage of staff, partic- ularly of an officer with some experience of the operation of such an organisation.