TNAG-1136-FCO40-1416-Address-by-Sir-Edward-Youde--Governor-of-Hong-Kong--to-the-L-1982 — Page 6

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Japanese have been fully taken into account. They contributed to the special arrangements introduced in 1977 for medical treatment of POWs living here and to the extension of the scope of the War Memorial Fund Ordinance in 1979 whereby the benefits of the

Fund were extended to cover POWs who were

incapacitated, but without their having to prove that their condition was directly attributable to

their captivity. The fifth conclusion reached was that, by using most of the money realised by the sale of Japanese assets for community projects, particularly the endowment of the University of Hong Kong rather than by distributing it equally among POWS, the Government did not intend any slight on the POWS' services. The Government simply recognised that, in Hong Kong, their particular suffering could not be fairly distinguished

from that of the rest of the community. Since neither

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equal nor fair allocation of the money to all who had suffered was possible, it was decided to use it for the long term benefit of the community, which decision had public support at the time. The final conclusion was that, although the Canadian Government now pays compensation at disability pension rates to all former Canadian POWS of the Japanese, including members of

Commonwealth and Allied forces domiciled in Canada at

the time of their enlistment, there is no case for Hong Kong to change its policy of paying pensions only to those assessed as disabled during service or to the

widows and orphans of those killed. The basis for

this conclusion was that it would be invidious to make

a distinction between Hong Kong's POWS and the civilian population which also suffered grievously as a result of the war for Hong Kong, unlike Canada, was actually

occupied by the enemy.

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