**:
(e) Vietnamese Refug000
129.
I turn now to the persistent problem of Vietnamese refugees. Unhappily in the last year the pendulum has swung against ua. Resettlement places are dwindling and Hong Kong is getting a reduced share of them. At the same time we have bean zboeiving a greater proportion of the arrivals in the region. As a result we find ourselves with 3,000 more refugees than six months ago. Kong Kong can be proud of its record in providing first asylum for refugees. But we cannot absorb more and more people without detriment to the welfare of our own citizens. For this reason we decided in July that in future all refugeos should be held in closed camps. Our intention is to detor those Vietnamese who persist in seeking illegal entry to Hong
Meanwhile, Kong.
We remain grateful for the continued
apsistance of UNHCR.
130.
(E) Correctional Services
The difficult task of managing these new camps in a firm and yet humane way has fallen to the Correctional Services Dopartment. I should like to pay tribute to the manner in which they have responded to this new demand particularly at a time when the general population in our correctional
institutions hap increased by 80 to 7,500. Theirs io an essential and demanding job which they carry out with loyalty and efficiency.
(g) Fire Services
131.
Nor · shoula I omit reference to the determined, effective and courageous
courageous performance of the Fire Services. Thoy discharge their daunting responsibility in an exemplary way. Togethez with the Police and the Auxiliary Services, they "performed magnificently in the very heavy rainstorms of May and
August.
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/(h) ICAC
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