into the colony and, therefore, the Communist controlled Trade Unions are able to offer, because of this financial assistance, facilities far superior to those offered from the free Trade Unions.
We would like to say how pleased we were to see the spirit and enthusiam of the Trade Union officials in Hong Kong who were working under such diverse conditions and meeting major difficulties with such aplomb, ready to start the next day full of enthusiasm and high spirits, endeavouring to overcome the tremendous handicaps through their Union organisation.
During our discussions with our Trade Union colleagues we were some- what surprised to hear that there was very little social security assistance in Hong Kong and also the low rate of wages being paid at the same time. We shall be returning to the question of wages later in this report in more detail, when discussing the various factories and working conditions that we found. It seems from the information made available to us that the wages earned in Hong Kong are gross wages and there are no peripheral benefits, by that we mean, if a person is off work they receive no wages whatsoever and no assistance from the State. There are no retirement benefits and by virtue of the fact that the wages are so low, there is very little, if any, opportunity for the average worker in Hong Kong entering into any financial plan in respect of old age or other forms of insurance.
We were concerned that there was a predominant feeling in the minds of our colleagues in Hong Kong that very little trust could be placed in promises from either the Government in the colony of the Government in Westminster towards an achievement in reasonable time, of conditions of employment and changes in both the industrial and social life of the community. It was quite clear that due to the lack of movement in a very positive manner there was no confidence that legislation would be introduced to achieve reasonable standards, and unless legislation is introduced there is very little chance through any form of collective bargaining of achieving a dramatic improvement in the conditions and employment of industrial workers in the colony.
The workpeople in Hong Kong deeply resent the attitude of the Govern- ment in standing aside in achieving the establishment of a free Trade Union organisation and collective bargaining, when they could see the attitude of Communist China in assisting the Communist Trade Unions, and this marked difference mitigated alarmingly against the organising activities of the free Trade Union movement. We should say here that when this was raised with the Government officials in the colony, we were told that they did not feel they could openly assist the growth of the free Trade Union movement but we could not accept this philosophy since they could have made it abundantly obvious that they encouraged trade unionism of this character as against the infiltration of the Communist Trade Unions in the colony and they could, by legislation, improve the opportunity for discussion and involvement with the Trade Unions in the colony.
Meeting with Labour Department of the Hong Kong Government
We had the opportunity during our visit to Hong Kong of meeting Mr. A. P. Richardson who was acting Commissioner of Labour, Mr. A. I. Price, deputy Commissioner and a number of senior Labour officers, statisticians and
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