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endowed with a richness of natural resources which has greatly helped them

to move into an era of intense and steady growth. By no means all have been

so fortunate. Hong Kong has not, for example, except in respect of its

port which is relevant to what I shall have to say later.

So the character, growth and size of the populations of the region

have contributed markedly to create an environment in which manpower could

be used effectively. At the same time, although you could hardly have a

greater diversity in the types of governments in the region or in the

philosophies and policies they have adopted, they have suited the varied

circumstances and characteristics of the people. In some places, governments

have played a major part in the state-led economic growth. In others, the

governments have adopted a less obtrusive role, simply creating an environ-

ment to enable people to develop their own capabilities on their own

initiatives.

If there is an economic factor common to them all, I suspect

it is the attention they have devoted to developing education and skills s0

that each society has been able to grow steadily in sophistication.

A consequence of all these aspects taken together is that the

populations concerned have been highly productive and have been able to

exploit the rapid expansion of world trade that has been such a feature of

the past 15-20 years. In consequence, despite the productivity of the

labour force, in most but not all countries, there was a relative shortage

of labour, particularly skilled labour. So wages rose rapidly, providing

the incentive to substitute capital for labour. The annual growth rate of

capital stock in the region has been noteworthy, in some cases sustained at

between 5% and 10% for long periods of time. Though these features have

been uneven, they have characterised the region as a whole.

/SHIPPING AND