TNAG-0338-FCO40-374-Report-of-visits-of-Overseas-Labour-Adviser--G-Foggon--from--1972 — Page 8

Mr E O Laird

CONFIDENTIAL

In Clewley

EV. 13,

When?

HONG KONG

1.

Kong.

I attach a copy of my report on my visit to Hong Apart from the report itself, you might find it helpful

to have my general impressions.

2.

First, the new Commissioner of Labour : Mr Paul Tsui has only a couple of years to go. He is full of energy and has a lot of political nous. He is clearly on excellent terms with most of the large manufacturers which has its dangers but which, I would have thought on the whole, might help to get policies across which they would ordinarily oppose. He has very little knowledge of labour affairs and he sees his role as one of public relations, both in the Legislature and outside, leaving the technical direction of the Department in the capable hands of Mr Ian Price. The public image of the Department has much improved and I found morale among the staff very different from the occasion of my last visit.

3.

Second, legislation: as you will see (paras. 3 to 12 of the report), progress is a little mixed but it is not on the whole unsatisfactory. Relations with the Secretariat are good and I was impressed by Mr J Williams and Mr David Lai who handle the Department's papers. There is still a tendency to minute at enormous length between the Secretariat and the Department and I suggested that a lot of time and energy could be saved by meeting more frequently to discuss differences of view and I made this point with the Governor, who had already spotted this tendency himself.

4.

The new Financial Secretary was away at the time of my visit and I had no chance to assess how his outlook compares with that of Sir John Cowperthwaite (who was personally responsible for the delay mentioned at the end of para.2 of my report). I suggested a modification of approach on the legislation concerned which might break the deadlock, since I was warned that the new Financial Secretary would, for the time at least, continue simply to endorse the line taken by his pre- decessor on a particular subject (see para.4).

5.

The Department itself: here the new organisation and improvements in staffing and training are beginning to show results, although the Factory and Labour Inspectorates still present problems which have not been resolved by the Christy- Bettenson Report. I have made a proposal (para.24) that we should get hold of a first-class Factory Inspector to work with the Department for the next couple of years or so to try to get things right.

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CONFIDENTIAL

16

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6.

I am much more happy about picketing problems in Hong Kong now that I have had a talk with the Commissioner of Police. For example, while I was there the Police telephoned the Commissioner of Labour late one night to say that an employer was complaining about a sit-in by his employees and wanted them evicted. The Police took no action other than to alert the Commissioner of Labour and by midnight the trouble had been resolved by a Labour Relations Officer from the Department.

7

Copies despatch under ver of Suring Telegram Hank's

Cavex

}

I have sent a personal copy of the report under cover of a short note to the Governor, who is showing a close personal interest in labour affairs and with whom I had a private one-hour talk before I left. You may agree that the 6 copies for the Colonial Secretary should be sent under cover of a short savingram? They are being sent to Mr Clewley with a copy of this minute.

12 January 1972

c. Mr Clewley HKD + 6 cc of report

Enc.

CONFIDENTIAL

G Foggon

1.

CONFIDENTIAL

H ON G L O N G

HONG

KONG

REPORT BY OVERSEAS LABOUR ADVISER

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH OFFICE

VISIT: 6-11 DECEMBER 1971

Summary

Background: the Economy and Improved

Paras

Social and Labour Standards

1-2

2.

The Legislative Programme

3-12

3

Hours of Work and Overtime for Women and

Young Persons

13-14

4.

Night Werk for Women

15-16

5.

The Structure and Staffing of the

Labour Department

17-19

6.

Factory and Labour Inspectorates

20-23

7.

Trade Unions

24-29

8.

Wages

30-31

9.

Picketing

32-34

10.

Staff Relations

35-36

31 December 1971

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

CONFIDENTIAL

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