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Question (in Chinese): On subsidy, in fact there are a lot of families that cannot really afford the fees, particularly when we talk of kindergartens. They're rather expensive in fact. When we talk about an average or lower middle household, it is about 20 per cent of their income. So in other words I hope the Mr Governor, as the last Governor in Hong Kong, will try and effect some improvements here so that the burden on the parents can be eased.
Governor: I think, as you know, Mr Lau that we have improved the fee remission scheme so as to give more assistance to those families who need it. You're entirely right to say that in a community like Hong Kong with so many mothers for instance going out to work, it's very important to have a good kindergarten and child care provision and we must make sure that people aren't deterred from using it by shortage of cash in their pockets.
Question: Good morning Mr Patten. I'm fortunate to have been able to speak with
you on the plight of Hong Kong ethnic minorities over the last few years. The community of affected people are indeed grateful to you for your personal support of our calls for British Citizenship. However, in spite of Mr Major's pledge to our community recently, one was simply seen as stating the obvious. We're concerned about the lack of success we have achieved in furthering our cause.
My questions to you today are twofold. In spite of your support, we seem to face local hurdles in Hong Kong when dealing with the issue. The LegCo House Committee recently experienced this with the Security Branch the other day. They said that it was costly and time consuming to fine tune the number of affected people who were established in the Government's recent survey. There might be difficulties and we need to know what these are. We also need to know that the Government will tell us how to overcome the difficulties, yet this is not so forthcoming. I wonder why?
My second question is in regard to what plan of action the Government has in terms of dealing with the issue? If you support our cause, this support cannot be substantiated without a plan. Shouldn't your speech have included at some part a plan of action as to what the Government plans to do over the next nine months?
Governor: Can I answer you with three points, and I totally accept the importance of the issue. It's one of the most important on my agenda,
First of all, I think you slightly underestimate what you and other extremely effective campaigners have managed to achieve by way of changing opinion in Britain on this issue. You've certainly shifted the Government's position, albeit not as far as you would've liked. You've shifted the position of the alternative Government, of the shadow Government, of the Labour Party, very significantly indeed and in a sense the Labour Party's position I guess comes reasonably close to what you've been pressing for.