TNAG-0735-FCO40-939-Policy-objective-for-the-developing-of-Hong-Kong-in-the-1980-1978 — Page 45

Sir,

Speech by the Hon. J.N. Henderson, JP

Commissioner for Labour

in the Legislative Council on 16th November 1978

Annual Policy Debate

You mentioned in your speech to this Council on 11th October

that some new items of labour legislation will be introduced during this

session and said that you would leave it to me to elaborate on these.

The first item concerns the extension of the minimum age

of employment of 14 to the non-industrial sector other than for part-time and perhaps holiday work.

Preparatory work is now well in hand and

I envisage that it should be possible to enact legislation to control such employment in the non-industrial sector during 1979; and this will be followed by the raising of the minimum age of employment in all sectors to 15 in late 1980. This progress is made possible by the developments in Secondary Education making nine years' education compulsory. I hope that Mr. Hilton Cheong-leen will be assured that this legislative reform will make a substantial contribution by Hong Kong to the International

Year of the Child in 1979.

Work is also in progress on the raising of the wage ceiling

in the Employment Ordinance from $2,000 a month to $5,000, though a lower figure will apply for the calculation of the maximum figure for severance

This will extend the protection provided by this Ordinance to the

pay.

vast majority of Hong Kong's wage and salary earners.

Your Excellency has commented on the annual leave legislation brought into force this January. A major piece of labour legislation of this kind takes time to become a community habit and part of the social fabric, which is its best guarantee of enforcement. Considering this

/is its

...

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