XN000022-1980-12-17 — Page 20

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1980

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WHERE HAVE ALL THE TOYS GONE ..?

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THE SECRETARY FOR HOME AFFAIRS, MR DENIS BRAY, TODAY GENTLY CHASTISED HONG KONG EXPORTERS FOR DEPRIVING+ US OF OUR TOYS AND CLOTHES.

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EVERYTHING FROM TOYS AND GARMENTS, HE LAMENTED, WATCHES AND CLOCKS, WIRELESSES AND ELECTRONIC MAGIC ANYTHING THAT IS REALLY INTERESTING IS PACKED UP IN CARTONS, LOADED INTO CONTAINERS AND SWUNG ON SHIPS BEFORE ANY ONE HAS A CHANCE TO ENJOY IT.

+ INDEED IF IT WERE NOT FOR THOSE DREADED QUOTAS YOU WOULD PROBABLY HAVE THE SHIRTS OFF ALL OUR BACKS,+ HE COMPLAINED AT A CHRISTMAS LUNCHEON GIVEN BY THE HONG KONG EXPORTERS ASSOCIATION AT WHICH HE WAS GUEST OF HONOUR.

BUT IT WAS WITH MORE THAN A TINGE OF PRIDE AND SATISFACTION THAT MR BRAY WAGGED AN ACCUSING FINGER AT HIS HOSTS.

+AS THE LAST 1980 QUOTA LADEN SHIP SLIPS FROM KWAI CHUNG ON DECEMBER 31 ABOUT ONE MINUTE BEFORE MRS BREMRIDGE FIRES THE JARDINE'S MIDNIGHT GUN AT EAST POINT, HE SAID, I HOPE YOU WILL ALL ENJOY THE CHAMPAGNE YOU SO RICHLY DESERVE AND RESOLVE THAT IN 1981 YOU WILL BE ABLE AGAIN TO CONFOUND GLOOMY CRITICS, SELL EVERYTHING HONG KONG CAN MAKE AND BRING US ALL PROSPERITY IN THE NEW YEAR.+

MR BRAY SAID THE YEAR HAD NOT BEEN AN EASY ONE BUT LOCAL EXPORTERS AND THEIR SUPPLIERS HAD STAGGERED EVERYONE BY THE WAY THEY HAD KEPT THOSE BOXES GOING OUT AT A TIME WHEN OUR RICH CUSTOMERS WERE BEWAILING THEIR DEPRESSION,

+SO SUCCESSFUL HAVE YOU BEEN THAT WHEN I WAS WORKING IN LONDON I REALLY HAD QUITE A JOB HIDING YOUR LIGHT UNDER A BAMBOO UMBRELLA WHILE EXTOLLING THE VALUE OF HONG KONG AS A MARKET FOR BRITAIN.

+THEY WERE ALWAYS GRUMBLING ABOUT IMPORTS FROM HONG KONG SO

I THOUGHT THE ONLY DEFENCE WAS TO ATTACK, HE SAID.

MR BRAY POINTED OUT THAT HONG KONG BUYS MORE FROM BRITAIN THAN ANY COUNTRY IN ASIA EXCEPT JAPAN, AND BRITISH EXPORTS TO HONG KONG ARE TWO-THIRDS OF THOSE OF JAPAN.

HONG KONG'S APPETITE FOR TEXTILES - THE MATERIAL NOT GARMENTS -- WAS SO COLOSSAL THAT OUR IMPORTS OF TEXTILES ARE 90 PER CENT THE VALUE OF THOSE OF THE UNITED STATES. IN ADDITION, HONG KONG IS ALSO THE SECOND LARGEST NET IMPORTER OF TEXTILES IN THE WORLD AFTER RUSSIA,

MR BRAY RECALLED THAT PROTECTIONISM IN BRITAIN GOT TO SUCH A STATE THAT SOME TEXTILE MP'S MADE A FRIGHTFUL FUSS WHEN THEY FOUND OUT THAT THE BARMEN IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS WERE SUPPLIED WITH SHIRTS MADE IN HONG KONG.

/+THERE WAS

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