RALD, JANUARY 11, 1970
SOUTH CHINA SUNDAY POST HERALD
11th January, 1970.
-URBAN COUNCILLORS REACT
Meeting with Heath was a waste
of time and disappointing
Some Urban Coun- cillors yesterday des- cribed their meeting on Friday afternoon with the Conservative Party Mr Edward leader, Heath,
"dead waste of time.”
as
a
One of them said he appeared so uninterested in the talks that for part of the interview he seemed half asleep.
The councillors expected Mr Heath to show his mettle as a politician and provide them with some outline of his
party's
policies towards Hongkong if he came to power in the next British general elections.
According to councillors, Mr Heath had nothing to say to them and did not bother to quiz them about problems which are causing them considerable concern.
Some observers had ex- pected Mr Heath and his party to use the meeting to compile further dossiers on child labour for their election battle against Labour in key textile and industrial areas in the United Kingdom,
The Urban Councillors had gone to the meeting prepared to answer ques- tions on the child labour
problem which has met with heated criticism in Parliament and is a bone of contention with British
textile manufacturers and workers.
The Civic Association suggested setting up a family subsidy scheme as a means of stamping out the problem in its list of submissions to the Conser- vative Party leader.
However, the councillors yesterday deplored that Mr Heath had shown little interest in the problem.
An independent member, Mrs Elsie Elliott, said Mr Heath showed little in- terest in anything they had to say.
Another independent, Dr Denny M. H. Huang, said the meeting was "dull.”
"Mr Heath did not ex- press his views at all,
except to praise Hongkong. was dis- The meeting appointing and a waste of time.
"I thought Mr Heath would be more interested in our problems. After all. is
Britain's Hongkong largest remaining_colony and makes a sizeable con- tribution to the chequer."
ex-
Mr Heath spent yester- day morning touring the border area and holding talks with the Governor, Sir David Trench.
He flew to the frontier by helicopter and paid a the half-hour visit to Chinese University on the way,
where he showed deep interest in the univer- sity's development.
He was met by the Vice- Chancellor, Dr Li Choh- ming, the pro-vice-chan- cellor, Dr C. T. Yung, the president of New Asia College, Dr Y. T. Shen, and the president of United College, Dr T. C. Cheng.
He later dropped into the Royal Hongkong Yacht Club where he was given a tie and banner by the Commodore, Mr J. Mon- tague-Ebbs
(Picturers on: Page 18).
02%
Mr Heath and his tee were accompanied steed 1 day morning by the Dite tor of Public Works sof Robson.
He will leave Hongkong tonight.
Mr Health on board the helicopter yesterday.
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