38
15.
The almost ideal natural harbour daily demonstrates the Colony's prosperity by the large number of ships which come and gɔ. The airport at Kai Tak, despite its limitations and hilly surroundings, is an extremely busy air terminal. The shops which abound in both Hong Kong and Kowloon nearly all display brightly coloured neon signs and are filled with luxury goods and all kinds of essential commodi- ties in profusion. Nearly every known make of motor car can be scen daily and there must be more cars per mile of road-way than anywhere else in the world. All this scoms to demonstrate a great confidence on the part of the public in the future of Hong Kong as a British Crown Colony.
16.
That there has recently been some concern among the public about the future of Hong Kong there is no doubt but the attitude of the Chinese Communist Government as described by Pan Chang Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Poking and mayor designats of that city in a recent speech 'scems to the generally accepted as the present official Chinese policy. According to the Wah Kiu Yat Po of 20th February 1951, he is alleged to have said
...
"It would be unwise for us tɔ deal with the problem of
Hong Kong rashly and without adequate preparation
To take back Hong Kɔng now would not only create unnecessary technical difficulties in the enforcement of our international policy but would also increase our burden. It is of some advantage to our economic reconstruction to let Hong Kong pre- serve her status quo".
:
-1.
One has only to realise that Hong Kong, before it was ceded to Great Britain, was a barren desolate island with a small population whose main avocations were fishing and piracy and tɔ sec it today with its modern city and towns teeming with obviously orderly, well fed and comparatively prosperous people, to realise what bene- its have accrued to all the people now resident there as a result of orderly and enlightened British rule, organisation and foresight.
18.
Other factors which have made for stability, progress and the maintenance of comparative industrial tranquillity are the high proportion of the population which must be regarded as within thę middle income group and the maintenance of better living and employ- ment conditions for the workers than those obtaining in China, where far too many prise have nothing to lose.
19.
That there is much poverty is apparent and its complete elimination is an extremely difficult problem when so many refugees from the mainland have entered. the Colony during recent years in order to secure freedom from fear and in the hope of attaining free- dom from want.
20.
It must be realised that Hong Kong is by no means a self- contained economic entity and industry and commerce are its life blood. As practically all the raw materials for its industries have to be imported and it is an entrepot, its economy is extremely vulnerable.
21.
An Economic Commission, reporting in 1935, said that "The real basis of the Colony's commerical existence is, and must continue to be, the handling of the trade of China. They attributed the trade depression of 1935, in part, to the erection of a high tariff wall by China while Hong Kong with little raw materials or agriculture was unable to defend itself and its standards of living. The Commission therefore insisted that "Social reforms, based on Western mɔdels,
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