TNAG-0003-FCO40-39-Commission-of-Enquiry-into-the-Kowloon-disturbances-addition-1968 — Page 202

3

со

dissatisfactions,

Some useful

2

Mr.Ross

Mr. Carter

You will wish to see the copy of the report of the Commission of

The report Enquiry into the Kowloon riots which is attached.

does not materially alter the views formed at the time of the riots as recorded in the brief for the Secretary of State's visit to Hong Kong in August 1966 (attached). It does, however, seem to dispose of the theory that it was participation of

criminal or hooligan elements that turned the original demonstrate into riot (paras. 414, 438).

The

The report contains no summary of conclusions, though the main lines of its findings are contained in paras. 393-450 and the concluding statement. The final section, paras. 451 to 453)

which deals with some of the "underlying" causes of discontent which Mrs. Elliott submitted to the Secretary of State is as the Commission appear to recognise, the least satisfactory section of the report. This is so not only because none of the alleged underlying disturbmees played any significant part in the evidence given by the rioters but also because the targets (over- crowding, citizenship, the dependence on foreign trade and special problems of youth) are so large and generalised as to be outside the competence of any one committee or commission. chapter may provoke discussion in Hong Kong as to the future lines of policy that should be followed in these matters. my mind, however, it does no good to discuss the riots on the basis of the somewhat old fashioned lines chosen by Mrs. Elliott. Experience in this country, Europe and America has shown elsery that teenage disturbances are not the product of political movements or dissatisfactions but simply the result of young persons' need to test experience to its utmost. Hong

quire. Kong has done a lot in the past ten years to provide open spaces and recreational facilities: but in a city in which population densities are 2,000 persons per acre it seems likely that there will always be the danger of teenage activities getting out of hand.

To

Young people call this kind of thing a "rave" which is to my mind much nearer the mark than the alternatives of "protest" or "delinquency" used by their elders (and of course Mao Tse Tungs term "cultural revolution").

I attach a draft brief for the Secretary of Statek visit.

DEER.

(D.H.REED)

20th February 1967.