451
Written Answers
19 DECEMBER 1968
·
Commonwealth Economic and
Trading Organisation
Mr. Molloy asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will consider initiating a pro- posal for the establishment of a perman- ent British Commonwealth Economic and Trading Organisation.
Mr. Whitlock : No.
What can usefully be done is already. dealt with through the Commonwealth Secrétariat and the Commonwealth Economic Consultative Committee.
HK.
Hong Kong Public Order Ordinance
Mr. Frank Allaun asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he will amend the Hong Kong Public Order Ordinance so as to place the burden of proof upon the autho- rities; and in what circumstances the Ordinance is now intended to be used.
Mr. Whitlock: In the case of all offences constituted under the Public Order Ordinance a burden of proof rests on the prosecution. My right hon. Friend is, however, examining certain provisions of the Ordinance, in consultation with the Governor, in the light of criticisms that have been made. The Ordinance forms part of the permanent law of Hong Kong and is used as circumstances require.
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
Mr. Arthur Davidson asked the Secre- tary of State for Foreign and Common- wealth Affairs when the United Kingdom will ratify the Convention on the Elimin- ation of All Forms of Racial Discrimina- tion.
Mr. Goronyy Roberts: I hope we will be in a position to deposit our Instru- ment of Ratification of this Convention with the Secretary General of the United Nations early in the New Year.
TRANSPORT
The Borders (Report)
72. Mr. David Steel asked the Minister of Transport (1) whether, following publi- cation of the report, Transport in the
8 R 2
Written Answers
Borders, a copy of which has been sent to him, he will make a statement on his policy on these matters;
(2) what revenue figure he assumed when calculating that a social grant of £250,000 would be needed to retain a Hawick-Edinburgh passenger rail vice; on how many trains cach way per day the figure was calculated and on how many passengers per day ;
ser-
(3) to what extent interest charges on past investment were included in his cost figure when calculating the social grant needed to retain all
or part of the Waverley Line ;
(4) whether he will indicate in the OFFICIAL REPORT the nature of the repre- sentations he received about the future of the Waverley Line from the Scottish Transport Users Consultative Committee, the Scottish Council (Development and Industry) and the Church and Nation Committee of the Church of Scotland, respectively;
(5) in considering the closure of the Edinburgh-Hawick-Carlisle railway line, what study was made of the possibility of re-routing all Edinburgh-London, Euston, traffic on to this line; and by how much it was estimated such a step would reduce the annual deficit on the operation of the line
(6) whether he will have immediate discussions with British Railways about the findings and recommendations con- cerning the relations between his depart- ment and the Railways Board in the report, Transport in the Borders, a copy of which has been sent to him;
(7) what recommendations were made to him by the Borders Economic Consul- tative Group about the closure of the Edinburgh-Hawick-Carlisle railway;
(8) what information he obtained, before approving the closure of the line, as to the annual revenue from freight carried on the Edinburgh-Hawick-Carlisle railway line to and from places on the route, and through this route, respec- tively, in each of the last five years;
(9) before coming to a decision to approve closure of the line, what informa- tion he obtained as to how many days in each of the last five years the Edinburgh- Hawick Carlisle railway line was used as a relief route for traffic diverted from other normal routes; and what revenue to
DIT: 19 Dec 1968. COL. 451 W VCL....7.7.5
Qa A
sent to
Hong Kong
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