By HAND FROM "APAO
21/1/76 10:30 am,
སོ བསྡ ་མ་ ཥ ལ་ ཕན་ པ་ དག
11 Dartmouth Street London SWIH 9BN 01-930 3077
NOT TO BE USED BEFORE SUNDAY 25 JANUARY 1976
Further information from:
Dianne Hayter 01:930:3078
HONG KONG: BRITAIN'S RESPONSIBILITY
A Fabian pamphlet published today calls for a British Government Commission of Enquiry into conditions in Hong Kong "as a matter of urgency". This should be followed by the setting up of a House of Commons Select Committee on Hong Kong to monitor the annual reports of the Hong Kong Government.
The author reminds his readers that Hong Kong is still a British colony and sketches the history of this area. His theme is that Britain must take a much greater interest than at present in the people 4 million of them who live there and in the conditions they experience.
Despite Hong Kong being one of the world's most successful trading "nations", Hong Kong has social and labour conditions which should shame a Labour Government. The Hong Kong worker has no minimum wage, no unemployment benefit, no old age pension and no sickness insurance. The unemployed between 15 and 55 years do not qualify for public assistance.
There is no paid maternity leave, no help for large families and no widow's pension.
The pamphlet's author, Joe England, ascribes five characteristics to the "education" in Hong Kong: "it is neither free nor compulsory, it does not provide enough school places for all who need them, it is desperately competitive, and the system depends very heavily upon a large private sector which regards education as a business".
But, says the
Social welfare, education, housing, working conditions and wages are inadequate, and child labour abounds (most of it legally). author, the "harsh and unimaginative social policies" which give rise to these "are the inevitable accompaniment of the (Hong Kong) Government's explicit philosophy that the private entrepreneur knows better than anyone else what is best for him, his business and his workers. The Government devotes itself therefore to providing the circumstances in which business can flourish".
CAR
Joe England details the close links business has with the Hong Kong Government
an unelected Government not responsible to the people of
Hong Kong
and suggests this is why the Government is slow to make improvements.
-
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.