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said that he thought there was a need for members of the Economists Department to be in fairly regular touch with Hong Kong and to visit the Colony regularly. Sir M MacLehose said that this would be acceptable on the assumption that the person selected was of high quality. He thought that there was room for a Hong Kong Government paper on the steps that had been taken in Hong Kong since the Tompkins Paper had been written. He wondered if Mr Macmahon of the Bank of England would be going out for the Commonwealth Finance Ministers' meeting: his advice had always been most useful. agreed that the Department should find out.
6.
It was
It was agreed that paragraph 26 of the main Paper, read in conjunction with paragraph 12 of Annex C, should be the agreed policy for development of social security over the next five years and that the immediate aim should be the extension of public assistance to able-bodied males. Sir M MacLehose said that a point of cardinal importance for him was that consideration of transfer payments as such should take place after the Hong Kong Government's policy for the most needy groups had been accepted by the Legislative Council and introduced. A very great deal of work was being done on this most complex subject. A Green Paper on services to the handicapped was expected in October; he expected to make a statement on services to youth in the course of his annual speech to the Legislative Council; and a Government statement on help for the elderly was due in spring 1977. He said that, he was under great pressure over the rehabilitation of the handicapped, particularly from Dr Harry Fang, a member of the Legislative Council whom he had appointed because of his known interest in this subject.
7. On education, Sir M MacLehose observed that the Hong Kong Government's plans for 1980-85 would need to be ready much in advance of 1 January 1979 (the date adumbrated in the Planning Paper), probably early in 1978. There would be a working party on this subject, the main task of which would be to decide what emphasis to give to the various elements of the programme, particularly tertiary education and technical training. This matter could not be adequately considered until the successful introduction of the Apprenticeship Bill.
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Mr Cortazzi said that he assumed that Mr Lipsey had already told the Governor that the appointment of a trade unionist to the Legislative Council would almost certainly be regarded by the Secretary of State as an essential element of the package. Sir M MacLehose replied that he still had great reservations about this but if the Secretary of State felt the line could be held at one such member, he would feel obliged to accept direction on this point. The appoint- ment would be contrary to the main development of a more representationa form of Government in Hong Kong which could only come from the expanding system of mutual Aid Committees and Area Committees. addition of further independent trade unionists might well cause real difficulties with Peking. There was at present a struggle developing between the communist unions and the independents over future control of the KMT unions and anything which appeared to be a deliberate move to bolster the prestige of the independents could cause trouble.
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