TNAG-0317-FCO40-353-Policy-of-housing-and-resettlement-in-Hong-Kong-problem-of-s-1971 — Page 92

Registry No. HKK 18/9

DRAFT

MINUTE

SEC

ÍTY CLASSIFICATION

To:-

Mr Laird

Top-Seeryt.

Secret.

Confidential.

Restricted.

Unclassified.

PRIVACY MARKING

Sir L Monson

Type 1 +

From J A Glewley

Telephone No. & Ext.

Department

Hong Kong

(145181) Dd. 737490 750M 1/71 Hw.

NOTHING TO BE WRITTEN IN THIS MARGIN

A

ہے

B

In Confidence

HOUSING

J

HONG KONG

1.

2.

Sir H. Norman-Walker's letter refers.

in the House of Lords

Arising from a speech made (in January 1971, I

believe) about Hong Kong, Lord Garner received a lengthy

but unsigned letter from the Worker-Student Political

Action Committee, Hong Kong. It was copied to

Baroness Summerskill and the Press (Times, Observer and

Guardian) and, to summarise as briefly as possible,

contained the following points.

3.

In referring to the "enormous shortcomings of

accommodation provided by Government" it describes

"excessive overcrowding" whereby adults have about ths

and children about th of the "minimum habitable area"

per person considered acceptable by the World Health

Organisation. This overcrowding was resulted in a

high incidence of violence, a painful lack of privacy,

inadequate recreational facilities, poor educational

standards (because high noise level precluded

concentrated study) and bribery and corruption to obtain

larger properties (because legitimate methods produced

no results). The letter was highly critical of the

actual accommodation (lavatories, kitchens etc)

provided;

the fact that housing shortages were not as

much the fault of refugees as claimed by the authorities

(refugees had been "more of a benefit to the Colony than

the use of English for the law, teaching

a detriment");

and text books;

the large expenditure on defence as /compared

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