TNAG-0231-FCO40-267-Conditions-of-employment-of-labour-force-in-Hong-Kong-1970 — Page 142

Mr. . M. Hetherington.

3

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1st April, 1970

You underline a certain passage

a certain passage of Mr. Boy's statement which reads, "The Labour Department is doing everything it can to stamp out those practices", but in this day and age, with the experience that we have of dealing with unscrupulous employers, I beg to suggest that it does not matter how many visits that your inspectors may make to industrial premises, the practice of employing child labour will only cease when it becomes too expensive for employers to break the law. According to Mr. Boy's statement, 161 factory owners were prosecuted between April and October of 1969 for employing a total of 235 under-age children. The fines imposed amounted to only iK$35 per child illegally employed. It is therefore ridiculous to say that the Labour Department is doing everything to stamp out these practices, because it is neglecting to do the one thing that would cure this evil, that of making the punishment fit the crime.

I note that you have made four general press

releases on child labour recently and yet you took exception to my quoting from the statement made by Mr. Harold Yau in the press. I would be happier if you had refuted llarold Yau's statement rather than my own quote from his statement. The impression that I have got (wrongly 1 hope) is that you have joined with others in Hong Kong in trying to get me discredited in the colony. You write that my letter to the South China Post revolved about statistics, but so far as your Department is concerned, the allegations I made were merely quotes from Harold Yau's article of February 17th.

There is one further point that I feel that I must make in connection with your unfortunate decision to allow night work for women. In every country whore we have affiliated organizations, it is the practice for the employers to pay a premium to those engaged on night work, and whilst I have to admit that Hong Kong appears to ignore favourable labour practices in other countries, I would ask, if only as proof of your sincerity, that you insist upon the women in Hong Kong being engaged on not less favourable terms than men who work during the night in other countries.