CONFIDENTIAL
He
session in October would provide a most suitable occasion. He thought the Governor too might prefer to make the various elements in the package known in that way rather than piecemeal in Parliament in response to questions, debates, etc. Once the programme was announced in Hong Kong, HMG could give it appropriate support. accepted that the Governor's announcement could not include any detailed formulation of taxation proposals but Hong Kong opinion would need to be prepared for necessary changes in budget strategy •
3. Sir M MacLehose said that he was in broad agreement with the Planning Paper. He was particularly pleased that agreement had been reached on the specific proposals in Annexes C and D to the paper. He foresaw no serious problem in seeing the programme contained in the Planning Paper through the Legislative Council within the projected time-scale. He understood that HMG regarded the programme in the Planning Paper as a minimum requirement but it was his duty to point out that it represented the maximum he thought possible to attain in Hong Kong. It would be as difficult for him if additional measures were added as it would be for HMG if Hong Kong were to fall behind in implementing the programme. He recalled that since 1972 he had announced substantial programmes for social development in such fields as housing, education and social welfare. The aim was to normalise conditions in Hong Kong within a defined space of time. He had not made any similar pronouncement on labour legislation. This had been for tactical reasons but there had nevertheless been a similarly rapid advance on that front in recent years. The Governor saw the legislative programme in the Planning Paper as complementing the programmes already announced. Taken together, it would be possible to claim that conditions of life in Hong Kong would be comparable to the best equivalent elsewhere in Asia (excluding Japan) in all respects within a defined period.
4. Sir M MacLehose added he was glad that it had been agreed that it should be left to him to present the programme in Hong Kong. He himself had had it in mind to announce the programme at the opening of the next session of the Legislative Council. He would propose to set forth precise targets in such fields as housing, education and social services; but in the case of labour legislation he felt that he could go no further than a precise statement of the legislative programme for 1976/77 and a general statement that it was the Hong Kong Government's intention within five years to raise standards, where this was not already the case, to at least the best Asian equivalent, excluding Japan. To mention such matters as minimum wages legislation or statutory hours of work at this stage would prejudice the substantial labour legislation programme planned for the next session of the Legislative Council. Fr Lipsey, with whom he had discussed
The this point, had agreed that this was the right approach. Governor said that he would supplement his public announcement with a document giving more precise targets in the field of labour legislation which could be used by Ministers in private exchange with, for example, the TUC. It would, however, be essential for the Hong Kong Government's confidence to be respected in this matter.
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