TNAG-0568-FCO40-701-Planning-paper-on-Hong-Kong-1976 — Page 120

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22.

SECRET

A

Meanwhile the Governor must base plans for social reform on the growing public support and enthusiasm for them which in turn seems to be producing a climate in the present Legislative and Executive Councils conducive to the necessary

iheretative froopater location legislation and an increase in Government revenues. The process is inevitably a slow one given the general climate of opinion in the Councils and among senior officials. Indeed we occasionally pick up hints that while officials might be sympathetic to some desirable measure to improve social conditions, opposition in LegCo and/or ExCo makes progress impossible. In particular there is in our view need for:

(a)

(b)

the development of a social security system providing an essential safety net for the old, the sick, widows and

orphans and the unemployed;

further improvement in the quality of public housing and a rapid

(c)

rehabilitation programme of the older

resettlement blocks combined with a

different approach to financing;

the development of a system which would avoid a complete reliance on market

forces to determine wage levels;

(a)

the introduction of some control on hours

of work and of a system of paid

vacation leave; and

(e)

23.

the development, in the course of introducing higher taxes to provide for

the present programmes for social development, of a more equitable system

of direct taxation which should include

the introduction of income tax.

Beyond this, there seems scope for further acceleration in the housing, educational and health fields; and rising public expectations in Hong Kong will make this desirable. It is perhaps necessary for the present plans, which had to be put back in the recent recession, to regain momentum before attempting

were

SECRET 15.

/anything

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