TNAG-0102-FCO40-138-Visit-to-Hong-Kong-by-Lord-Shepherd-1967 — Page 16

Eskail

HWA

COMEDENTIAL

if properly used, to carry forward policies of social

improvement which might have been unacceptable to the local

business and industrial community a few months ago.

is it able to bring about such policies?

718.

But

18. There has been and probably still is, a marked reluctance by the Administration to move in the field of

labour and social reform.

to this:-

Three reasons may be ascribed

PARA 18

(i) Fear of upsetting the competitiveness of Hong Kong

industries.

(ii) A traditional attitude which assumes that the Chinese,

having been granted the basic needs, should be left

alone to develop their own standards.

(iii) A lack of detailed knowledge and expertise on how

reform might be achieved.

this

Let us examine these reasons, On competitiveness;

point has certainly been valid in the past and still is to a

certain extent; but with the expansion and development of

industry there would now appear to be room for gradual progress

in the field of labour and social reform. The traditional

attitude may have made sense some years ago. Not today. There

is a new generation of young Chinese, born in Hong Kong, who,

through education and contact with Western ideas, will want

to know what Government proposes to do for them. Unless the

energies of these young people can be channelled they will become

an even increasing source of trouble makers. Lack of detailed

knowledge on how reform might be achieved still exists.

has bred an atmosphere of timidity and caution which, in present

circumstances, needs to be changed, and changed quickly.

This'

19. The mainspring of the Hong Kong Government is, of course,

the Civil Service and by the nature of their job civil servants

NEFIAL

/are