TNAG-0438-FCO40-503-Visits-of-UK-Members-of-Parliament--to-Hong-Kong-including-v-1974 — Page 80

IN CONFIDENCE

The Director of Operations is Mr John Prendergast, a former senior Police Officer with extensive experience in Hong Kong and elsewhere. A number of senior officers from the United Kingdom Police Force are also to be

seconded.

9.

NARCOTICS

There are estimated to be 80,000

100,000 addicts in Hong Kong.

The turnover of the business of opium and its derivatives in Hong Kong is

estimated to be about HK 1 million a day. In 1972 the Hong Kong Government

appointed a Commissioner for Narcotics to deal with the problem.

Recommendations by the Narcotics Commissioner for new measures to intensify

the drive against drug addiction in Hong Kong have been embodied in a White Paper. We and the Hong Kong Government are examining various ways of taking action in the international field against the illicit traffic in drugs to Hong Kong from the "Golden Triangle" area (the border area between

Burma, Thailand and Laos). A Hong Kong officer was seconded to the British

Embassy at Bangkok in November 1973 to liaise with the Thai Government on

narcotic matters. A UN ad hoc committee recently visited the Far East. The purpose of their visit was to examine ways of fostering regional

cooperation against illicit traffic in narcotics.

10.

MASS TRANSIT SCHEME

In June 1972 the Hong Kong Government decided in principle to

construct an underground railway. The estimated cost at mid-1972 prices is

some £550 million. There were three main competing consortia: the Anglo/ Italian, the Japanese and the Franco/German (which also had minor member- ship).

In September 1973 the Japanese put in a pre-emptive bid and in December the Hong Kong Executive Council decided to enter into sole negotiations with the Japanese consortium on the basis of that bid.

IN CONFIDENCE

7.