FRIDAY, MAY 23, 1980
5
MR GRIFFITHS SAID THAT HE BELIEVED THAT THE LAW IN RELATION TO HOMOSEXUALITY SHOULD BE REVIEWED BUT WITHOUT PRE-JUDGING WHETHER OR NOT THE LAW SHOULD BE CHANGED IN ANY
WAY.
+MUCH HAS BEEN SAID ABOUT THE HOMOSEXUALITY LAWS IN HONG KONG OVER THE PAST MONTHS WITH SOME ADVOCATING THEIR RELAXATION AND OTHERS TOTALLY AGAINST ANY CHANGE,+ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL SAID, I THINK IT WILL BE IMPORTANT FOR THE LAW REFORM COMMISSION TO TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THE VIEWS OF THE COMMUNITY AS A WHOLE, AND DOUBTLESS THE COMMISSION WILL WISH TO CO-OPT ADDITIONAL MEMBERS TO HELP IN THIS WORK, 1 AM SURE THE COMMISSION WILL TAKE VERY GREAT CARE TO SOUND PUBLIC OPINION BEFORE EXPRESSING A VIEW,+ ADDED MR GRIFFITHS.
PROVISIONAL TRADE FIGURES FOR APRIL ******
THE VALUE OF HONG KONG'S TOTAL EXPORTS LAST MONTH WAS $7 690 MILLION. MADE UP OF DOMESTIC EXPORTS AT $5 389 MILLION AND RE-EXPORTS AT $2 302 MILLION, ACCORDING TO PROVISIONAL EXTERNAL MERCHANDISE TRADE FIGURES FOR APRIL PUBLISHED BY THE CENSUS AND STATISTICS DEPARTMENT TODAY.
WITH IMPORTS AT $9 537 MILLION, THE VISIBLE TRADE DEFICIT FOR APRIL WAS $1 847 MILLION.
COMPARED WITH THE SAME MONTH IN 1979, THE FOLLOWING INCREASES BY VALUE WERE RECORDED: $1 234 MILLION OR 30 PER CENT IN DOMESTIC EXPORTS- $716 MILLION OR 45 PER CENT IN RE-EXPORTS- $1 950 MILLION OR 34 PER CENT IN TOTAL EXPORTS AND $2 423 MILLION OR 34 PER CENT IN
IMPORTS.
COMMENTING ON THE APRIL FIGURES, A GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN POINTED OUT THAT THEY SHOW A CONTINUATION OF THE PATTERN APPARENT IN THE FIRST QUARTER OF THIS YEAR. TOTAL EXPORTS HAVE CONTINUED TO GROW AT ROUGHLY THE SAME RATE AS TOTAL IMPORTS- AND, WITHIN TOTAL EXPORTS, THE VALUE OF RE-EXPORTS HAS CONTINUED TO GROW RAPIDLY.
IN LINE WITH THIS PATTERN, IN THE FIRST FOUR MONTHS OF THIS YEAR THE VALUES OF TOTAL EXPORTS AND OF IMPORTS WERE BOTH 37 PER CENT HIGHER THAN IN THE FIRST FOUR MONTHS OF 1979, WHILE THE VALUE OF RE-EXPORTS WAS 44 PER CENT HIGHER.
THE SPOKESMAN SAID THAT THE VISIBLE TRADE +GAP+, THAT IS THE PROPORTION OF THE VALUE OF IMPORTS WHICH IS NOT COVERED BY THE VALUE OF TOTAL EXPORTS, WAS 19.4 PER CENT IN APRIL, NARROWER THAN MARCH'S VERY HIGH 24,2 PER CENT, IN THE FIRST FOUR MONTHS OF THIS YEAR THE +GAP+ WAS 18.7 PER CENT, WHICH IS THE SAME AS IN THE CORRESPONDING PERIOD OF 1979.
THE SPOKESMAN