TNAG-0645-FCO40-793-Employment-of-children-in-Hong-Kong-1977 — Page 7

3

N thompson

CODE 18-17

Reference

Child Employment - Hong Kong

น

It might be worth getting to Hall to cast an eye over

seem to show a woeful picture, i these figures. To me, they no way justifying the complacency of the halow Department's covering note. For instance, to conclude that the figures in appendix I washed decking) provide evidence that "less and less children were employed in industy" is nonsense - at best they would seem to show that the position is as bad as ever, and the figures i the third table could even be said to show that the position

is worse.

2.

while it is encouraging to see that the intoduction of the increased penalty - April

April was immediately followed by a marked increase in the level of fines, the fines still amont, on average, to only 2-3 times the monthly wage of a

unskilled worker-ie. what an

an

employer could hope to save

by, say,

six months undetected employment of a single child Calower. His hardly amounts to an effective deterrent -as would seem to be shown by the continuing level of

employment being detected.

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