ENG-1975 — Page 17

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Hong Kong: A Personal View By Richard Hughes

It happened a century ago, a well-read historian shareholder pointed out at the 1975 annual general meeting of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. He recalled: "The year 1874 was a year of dire trade recessions, peppered by many leading Hong Kong business houses finding themselves in monetary difficulties. But in spite of all these losses, the Bank was not in as much danger as appeared and from the latter half of 1875 began to recover'.

The shareholders cheered. They had reason. It looks as though history is repeating itself—as it is normally supposed to do. Most Hong Kong experts-both the natural optimists and the natural pessimists-tend to agree that the worst is over, and that Hong Kong has escaped from the world recession-with closed ranks, tightened belts and quiet confidence.

'By the end of 1975', said the Director of Commerce and Industry, David Jordan, 'we shall have had virtually no growth for two years, and a return to the growth that we had been used to is dependent on a sustained maintenance of our competitive position'.

Hong Kong's reaction to the world depression has been characteristically Chinese. There were no strikes or even serious industrial disputes when the shadows of the world recession darkened the territory. Groups of workers organised their own internal system of shared labour and part-time rotation. This was a typical Chinese reaction: share the one bowl of rice which has temporarily replaced the normal two bowls; don't break the empty one.

In any event, there is no real instinct for normal organised union membership in Hong Kong. To quote a Commerce and Industry official: 'Our workers want to be allowed to work and to attain an increasing standard of living. They do not see the trade union system as being of any assistance to them. In fact, it is the government of Hong Kong that is trying to encourage the development of healthy unionism'.

Trade Expansion

The drive for new markets and new investment is to be expanded on all fronts to counter the difficulty of textile quotas by the European Economic Community. An Industrial Investment Promotion Committee has been established to co-ordinate the operations of the Commerce and Industry Department, the Trade Development Council and the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce.

Trade investment safaris are to be widened, with special attention to the United States, Britain, the Eastern European bloc and the Arab states. Visiting missions have