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PS/Lord Goronwy-Roberts
BOAT DWELLERS IN HONG KONG:
THE HONG KONG STANDARD
1.
HKCK 360/2
(LINE NA
- 9 MAR 1979
Der Of
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MRS ELLIOTT'S LETTER OF 25 FEBRUARY TO
ELLIOTT
13.2
Mrs Elsie Elliott sent Lord Goronwy-Roberts a copy of her letter of 25 February to the Editor of the Hong Kong Standard (who printed it on 1 March). The Minister of State has asked what are the facts (Mr Hamilton's minute of 5 March).
2. Mrs Elliott claims that Lord Goronwy-Roberts' statement (in the reply he gave to Lord Brockway in the House of Lords on 12 February) that "no charges were made aginst the 10 juveniles" involved in the demonstration by the Yau Ma Tei boat dwellers on 7 January was not
7 strictly accurate. She is right. The 10 children, together with
66 adults, were in fact charged on 7 January with unlawful assembly. However, when they appeared in court on 8 January, no evidence was offered against the children. This was the line suggested in the Notes for Supplementaries prepared for Lord Brockway's Question. 3. The sentence concerned was not included in the Answer to Lord Brockway's Question which I originally submitted and I am not sure whether it was checked with the department. But we certainly ought to have noticed afterwards that it was incorrect. Lord Goronwy-Roberts may wish to take the opportunity provided by tomorrow's debate to clarify the point. I attach a form of words which might be inserted in the eighth paragraph on page three of the draft which I submitted on 1 March. They would fit in after the sentence reading "The others, including prieste,....were bound over for a period of 18 months". The earlier sentence in the same paragraph "No evidence was offered against the 10 children involved" would then be omitted.
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4. I do not understand what Mrs Elliott is getting at in her reference to "he policy of the housing authority to provide better housing for better-off people and ignore the needs of the poor". is possible that she may have in mind the current policy to offer housing for sale under the Home Ownership Scheme. This is designed to appeal to people who can afford to buy their own homes but cannot pay open market prices. But by far the greater part of the Hong Kong Government's public housing programme is aimed at the less well off.
In her letter Mrs Elliott also mentions a statement attributed to
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