XN000022-1977-06-24 — Page 13

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visits) industry of all kinds has flourished so that unemployment

-

is negligible, the standard of living is far higher than it was 25

years ago, with excellent schools, splendid hospitals and serviɔas

and all this has been brought about without serious social unrest or

conflict apart from the brief outbreak of violence of 10 years ago

which was not a home-grown product.

"In short, hard work and the right environment have meant

that Hong Kong has long become accustomed to a rising level of

prosperity. Today, from all accounts the colony is thriving as few

other territories in the world are thriving - and that population

hasn't stopped growing yet.

-

"All this represents an achievement for which it is impossible

to think of a parallel even the Japanese performance does not equal

it. So in the jubilee year of 1977 it is not inappropriate to con-

gratulate the people and the Government of Hong Kong on their energy and

their enlightened policies which have achieved this remarkable record.

I don't doubt that if we examined that record we could find in it some

pretty useful lessons for ourselves.

"If I say that my own year in Hong Kong was not only one of

the happiest but unquestionably the most interesting of the life, I

feel certain this experience is by no means untypical. Such is the

beauty of the place, together with the unique atmosphere of constant

thriving activity, that Hong Kong cannot fail to make a deep impression

on anyone who spends any time there. I therefore find it enormously

stimulating to have this chance of renewing contacts with Hong Kong

friends, albeit on a rather different footing from that of 1963 when

/I was a ...............