TNAG-0011-FCO40-47-Kowloon-disturbances-1967 — Page 181

Begins.

MR. MAUDLING: My hon. friends and I wish to be associated with the tribute so rightly paid by the hon. lady to the Governor and others for the remarkable job they have done in difficult times recently in Hong Kong and we would certainly like to echo the hope that good sense will prevail. Will she confirm that the processes of the law in Hong Kong and the proper dealing with these difficult circumstances will not in any way be affected by external pressures?

MRS. HART: I think that it will have been clear from events of the last week or ten days that for all of those arrested for various offences during the disturbances that the perfectly normal processes of the law were followed in the reference to the timing of their being brought to court and in every other aspect of the way they were treated. In other words everything that would normally occur is occurring.

MR. JAMES JOHNSON: I thank my rt. hon. Friend for dealing with this matter on a factual basis and I, too, join her in expressing admiration for what the police have done in Hong Kong and all down the line. Is it not a fact that the Government and the Governor have been asked for the last 12 months to do something to alleviate the economic conditions as well as the working conditions of the union members in Hong Kong? Is it not a fact that if the Chinese people in Hong Kong were given more participation in their affairs if not in the executive Council then in other ways, and were allowed to have some say in what is happening some of this mischief would be stopped at the source?

MRS. HART: As my hon. Friend may know, the aspect which he is raising was very fully covered in the Adjournment debate initiated by my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow, Govan (Mr. Rankin) not long before the Whitsun Recess. There is at the moment a report on local government in Hong Kong being studied by all sections of opinion in Hong Kong. I expressed my views about that during the Adjournment debate, although I believe that this is not directly related to the occurrences of recent weeks.

MR. A. ROYLE:

I congratulate the hon. Lady on having made her statement, and all hon. Members will join with her in the tribute she paid to both the police and Government of Hong Kong. Will she give an assurance that she will resist any requests made by hon. Gentlemen seated behind her to involve the United Nations in what is happening in Hong Kong and will continue to give full support in the weeks ahead to the Hong Kong Government in their efforts to deal with hooliganism and demands made by Peking? Can she say what protests have been made to the Portuguese Government regarding the hooliganism against our consul in Macao which took place last week?

MRS. HART: A number of the points raised by the

hon. Gentlemen are really for my rt. hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary. In so far as he discusses the question of resisting hooliganism in Hong Kong, I have made it clear that it is the intention of the Government here and in Hong Kong to take whatever steps need to be taken to preserve public order in Hong Kong.

/MR. OGDEN: