XN000022-1977-12-01 — Page 2

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1977

SOCIAL PROGRAMMES MAKING GOOD PROGRESS

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THE GOVERNOR, SIR MURRAY MACLEHOSE, SAID IN LONDON LAST NIGHT HONG KONG WAS WITHIN SIGHT OF OVERCOMING THE SOCIAL DEFICIENCIES IMPOSED ON IT BY HISTORY.

ADDRESSING THE DIPLOMATIC AND COMMONWEALTH WRITERS ASSOCIATION IN LONDON, HE SAID THAT THE MASSIVE PROGRAMMES IN HOUSING, EDUCATION, MEDICAL AND SOCIAL SECURITY WERE MAKING GOOD PROGRESS AND HE EXPECTED THE TARGETS TO BE ACHIEVED IN SIX YEARS.

THE MOST PRESSING PROBLEM, HE SAID, HAD BEEN HOUSING. BUT WITH THE PUBLIC HOUSING PROGRAMME NOW IN TOP GEAR THE PROBLEM OF HOUSING AS IT NOW EXISTS SHOULD BE BEHIND US BY 1983/84.

NEXT TO A LIVELIHOOD AND HOUSING, EDUCATION WAS NEXT PRIORITY, HE SAID, AND THE AIM HERE WAS TO BUILD A PUBLIC SECTOR OF EDUCATION THAT WOULD CATER FOR ALL UP TO THE END OF JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL.

+BY 1971 SUFFICIENT PROGRESS HAD BEEN MADE FOR PRIMARY EDUCATION TO BE UNIVERSAL, FREE AND COMPULSORY. THE PROGRAMME HAS BEEN PUSHED FORWARD AND NEXT YEAR, SEPTEMBER 1978, THE JUNIOR SECONDARY COURSE WILL ALSO BECOME UNIVERSAL AND FREE, AND A YEAR LATER WILL BE MADE COMPULSORY, HE SAID.

IN THE TERTIARY SECTOR, HE ADDED, THE OPPORTUNITIES WERE FOR 17.9 PER CENT OF THE AGE GROUP BY 1981 THE FIGURE WOULD BE 23 PER CENT AND, UNDER CURRENT PLANS, 27 PER CENT BY 1986.

SIR MURRAY TOLD THE ASSOCIATION THAT MEDICAL ATTENTION IN HONG KONG WAS RELATIVELY GOOD AND, DESPITE THE ABSENCE OF A NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE, MEDICAL ATTENTION WAS AVAILABLE TO ALL AND PROVIDED AT A LOWER COST TO PATIENTS THAN IN BRITAIN.

MAJOR NEW PROJECTS BETWEEN NOW AND 1983, HE ADDED, INCLUDED THREE MAJOR HOSPITALS OF OVER 1,200 BEDS, PLUS A WHOLE STRING OF CLINICS.

SIR MURRAY SAID HONG KONG HAD COME A LONG WAY FROM A +REFUGEE CITY+ TO ONE OF THE WORLD'S LEADING INDUSTRIAL AND TRADING TERRITORIES. ITS PEOPLE ENJOY A STANDARD OF LIVING WHICH IS HIGH BY ASIAN STANDARDS AND WHICH IS IMPROVING. +

IN HIS WIDE RANGING SPEECH, SIR MURRAY ALSO SPOKE ON THE

POLICE, ICAC AND HONG KONG'S TEXTILES.

ASKED WHETHER HE FELT THAT HE HAD HAD NO OPTION BUT TO DECLARE A PARTIAL AMNESTY, THE GOVERNOR SAID +NO, IT WAS A MOMENT OF VERY CONSIDERABLE DANGER. THERE WAS CONSIDERABLE PUBLIC FEELING AT THE TIME IN FAVOUR OF PART OF THE CASE OF THE POLICE AND THE TOTAL UNITY OF OPINION SUBSEQUENTLY ACHIEVED, I AM SURE, WAS BASED ON A SENSE OF FAIRNESS OF THE AMNESTY.+

/IN ANSWER TO