TNAG-0658-FCO40-807-Policy-of-Government-of-Hong-Kong-on-education-1977 — Page 230

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Foreign Affairs

1 MARCH 1977

for years has been battling with the Gov- ernment on this matter. The way tho Government compulsorily acquire land causes considerable feelings among mem- bers of the Kuk. They feel so concerned about the situation that I understand they intend to send a delegation over here next month to meet the Minister respon- sible for Hong Kong affairs in this country.

One example of the unfair land policy is that villagers may have land com. pulsorily acquired for 10 Hong Kong dollars -«bout £l

@ square foot. This Find can then be auctioned or tenders can be invited for it and it may be sold for 400 to 500 dollars per square foot. That is real exploitation of the people-- it is their land.

Education in Hong Kong leaves much to be desired. I met some members of the education action group in the colony, Free and compulsory primary education was not introduced into Hong Kong until 1971, and it is not waipulsory a the sense that we know it. It is estimated that there are at least 50,000 drop-outs a year from school, and this figure has never been refuted by the Government. Many of these children are not followed up us there is no school welfare system and they are lod into child labour Others are led into juvenile delinquency or even prostitution. There is no com pulsory secondary education in Hong Kong at this stage.

Housing conditions are a matter of great concern and the Governor himself admitted this. However, I appreciate that great strides have been made in recent years to improve the position. There are hundreds of thousands of squatters in Hong Kong, thousands living in settle ment areas and thousands living on boats.

I quote an article that appeared in the Financial Times on 17th May last year!

* The background to the housing problem is one of grossly substandard living conditions and uver crowching on what may be the biggest scale in any major city in the world. Hong Kong has a conunuing floating squaller population of about 150,000 (some estimates put it higher) in the urban areas of the colony alone unos refugees started flooding in from China In the mid-1950% There aro squatters in the new territories but they are generally considered to be living more tolerable lives Squatters in urban wrows may live in wooden shanties un sleep hillsides where they are able to be swept to their deatha 10

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Foreign Affairs

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typhoons, or on the roofs of factory or tenement blocks in the built-up areas That report was not from a revolutionary anti-Hong Kong paper, it was not from the Tribune or the Morning Star, but from the columns of the Financial Times.

I conclude by congratulating my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary on his appointment, and I hope that he will examine a number of these matters. I was recently pleased to hear my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister mention thơ ratification of ILO conventions. Hon. Members who take an interest in Hong Kong affairs are well aware that many of those conventions have been upproved by the House but are awaiting ratification by the Hong Kong Government my right hon. Friend to examine the situation, and I hope that the ratification of those conventions will load to a speedy and urgent improvement in social and democratic conditions in Hong Kong.

I beg

Foonclude by renunding my night bua Fremd that over 10 kg Mem spmed two Early:Day Maguions, express- ing angiety, as have the labour Party and the TUC, that a Royal Commission be set up on Hong Kong. If that is found to “he Imprácticable, will my right hon. Friend consider wotting up a Select Com- mittce to examine all the factors affecting the colony and so leading to an improve- ment in human and civil rights in Hong Kong?

8.02 p.m.

Mr. Peter Blaker (Blackpool, South): I know Hong Kong well, and the politest thing I can say about the speech by the hon. Member for Liverpool, Scotland Exchange (Mr. Parry) is that it was totally misleading. If conditions in Hong Kong are as bad as all that, why is it that so many people are still trying to get across into that territory from the main- land of China?

I shall not pursue that subject further, because I want to be brief. My right hon Friend the Member for Knutsford (Mr Davies) remarked that we do not appear to be matching Russia's deter- mination of purpose, and that is the theme I want to take up in my remarks. If I were in the position of the Russian Ambassador in London and seeking to assess the Government's policy to the Societ Union, I would describe it, with good reason, as boneless.

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