ニュー
1373
Hong
[1 APRIL 1976]
than they themselves had. Whether they remained in Hong Kong during the war or whether, as so many of them did, they went to the mainland, or whether they are the ones (who have been mentioned) who have come from the mainland to get a better life, are think- ing of the future of their families, one has to remember that a great many of these Chinese think that some of the mistakes of the past-and perhaps the ‣ noble Lord, Lord Brockway, would agree with me in this-have been that we have imposed too many European standards on the people in the countries which are erstwhile colonial territories, though I must say that, as a whole, we have not done anything with regard to their religion or to the culture of the people.
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Trade expansion in Hong Kong depends, as has been mentioned, upon trade and good relations with China, because we are not only dependent upon them for food coming down the Yangtse River and the Pearl River; we also need their water. But the Chinese do not just leave Hong Kong to this trade. They have got very large, shall I say. safaris who have been visiting countries like the United States, the Eastern European countries and the Arab States--in fact, I believe about 153 countries in all-to get other trade. I have recently read the Fabian pamphlet called Britain's Respon- sibility, and I would suggest that at present the British Government are guar- dians of the territory. If the Chinese are only left alone, I think they will be able to thrive under a liberal type of colonial rule. I think that is exactly what is hap- pening at the present time. That is why I was not very happy about the statements in the Fabian pamphlet, because they went on to say:
"For socialists, indeed for any liberal British observer, the patent injustices and exploitation in Hong Kong are unacceptable and inexplic- able".
The noble Lord, Lord Brockway, men- tioned hawkers. There is now, of course, as he probably knows, legislation, and the hawkers have been taken off the streets, not only because they block the roadways but in order to give them the protection that he mentioned. The Chinese who left Hong Kong during the war returned in 1945 to 1947, when the population was, as mentioned by my noble friend, 600,000. Then it rose, in 1971, to 1,800,000; and it is now just over 4 million. What I think
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Kong
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is even more admirable is that they received 4,000 Vietnamese refugees. With all their other problems, that is really an example to us. Furthermore, they were able to open the universities as carly as 1946, when they had 109 students. By 1975 they had expanded this number to over 3,500, besides sending as many as they could overseas, to this country and to other countries in Europe.
In regard to welfare, a social welfare ollice was formed as early as 1946 and it became an independent department in 1958. It may be of interest to the noble Lord, Lord Brockway, to know that eight times as much is now being spent as was spent eight years ago. There is also a Community Chest comprising 70 different organisations and over 100 voluntary organisations, with the Council of Social Service at their head. This was also formed in 1946. What I am also very pleased to say-because I am interested in both is that there is a school for the deaf and a school for the blind, and also workshops for the blind. Why I par- ticularly wish to mention the school for the deaf is because previously the only method of teaching them was through English. Now, with the modern instru- ments, they can teach these children Can- tonese. Cantonese is a tone language, so it is more difficult; but it does mean that when the pupils go home they can converse with their parents, and so on; and it is really rather thrilling to see these small children and the interest they are taking.
Also, of course, the Chinese have out- side representation. They have repre- sentatives to deal with GATT, with UNTAD and with the EEC. Mention has also been made of wages. The wages as a whole--not just the millionaires-are still the highest in the Far East, with the exception of Japan. In regard to the problems-and of course there are prob- lems-I would mention housing first be- cause, obviously, it is the most important. One thing that everybody needs in order to have a happy family is to have a good roof over their head and somewhere where they can live in confort. My Lords, 17 million Hong Kong dollars have been spent between 1954 and 1973, and 1-8 million dollars are allocated now. In the early days-and I have done so since I visited some of the housing which, I agree, was very standard. In
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