XN000022-1996-10-03 — Page 35

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Governor: I don't know whether you have seen the booklet that we have produced which tells new immigrants what their rights are and what their entitlements are. If you haven't seen it, if you can leave your name with the telephonist I will certainly make sure that you are sent it and if you have got any particular problems and think you are being unfairly treated, if you mention that as well I will have it looked into. I repeat, we want while being fair to people who have been in Hong Kong for longer we want to give people who come here to live the opportunity of a full and free life.

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Question: Good morning Mr Patten. I would like to refer to Mr Goodemall's (phonetic) remarks about the uncertainty regarding the status of the minorities in the future, and your comments. For instance he was talking, obviously, about the Indian sub-continent and you mentioned there are other minorities here and you specifically mentioned the Portuguese. But one group you did not mention were the Eurasian community who have done so much for Hong Kong in the past. For instance I was in Canada and the States very recently and I found it very sad to meet so many of these Eurasians who have had to leave Hong Kong because of the uncertainties in the future. For instance many of them had been educated at the Diocesan Girls School and the Diocesan Boys School; the only reason they left their home in Hong Kong was the uncertainty regarding their status in the future.

Now I do hope that when the minority issue comes up in the future with the British Government, whether it be the Conservatives or the Socialists, you will press for consideration for their right of abode in the United Kingdom because for instance in the past, that's about the 1970s, they had the right of abode in the United Kingdom but successive British governments who are meant to go for fair play and all the rest of it, have just eroded their rights. And so someone who had the right of abode in England it has been taken away from over the years. It is very sad and a very sad reflection in many ways on let's say the British code of honour. Perhaps you would like to comment on this, or maybe not now but at least bear it in mind in the future.

Governor: Let me comment straightaway and first of all recognise, which everybody knows to be the case, the remarkable contribution which many Eurasian families have made to the development of Hong Kong. There are of course many distinguished Eurasian families still in Hong Kong making a tremendous contribution but everybody knows that that is the case that they have made a tremendous contribution to our economic life, to our public service and to our cultural life as well. I think there are two particular aspects to the issue you raised.

The first is the question of a British Passport and right of abode in Britain, and you will know very well that I have taken up that issue and not always made myself very popular in the United Kingdom by doing so. But it has been the right thing to do, as it was the right thing for my predecessor, Lord Wilson, to do.