ENG-1980 — Page 18

REVIEW

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Torrid days, with chanting crowds shaking clenched fists in front of Government House, turned into tempestuous weeks and months, with the strong hand of the Royal Hong Kong Police Force bearing the brunt of bombs and riots. But the troubles, while serious, were localised and elsewhere life went on almost normally. Food and water continued to arrive from mainland suppliers virtually without interruption. Industry got on with its work. Exports continued moving overseas. Offices carried on. Shops continued to do business. And at year's end, Hong Kong picked itself up, as it had from many a great storm of nature, felt its pulse, patched its wounds, stood on its feet, shook its head and confounded the critics by rising from the ashes.

Its resilience, indeed, surprised no one more than the people who at the end of the decade of the 60s, found themselves launched on one of the greatest booms of their history. These were the years that Hong Kong grew under the leadership of men like Sir Robert Black and Sir David Trench, who deserve credit for giving free rein to the natural enterprise and dynamism of the people, and repressing the temptation of all bureaucrats to interfere.

Into the Booming 70s

A profile of Hong Kong at the dawn of the decade of the 70s would have shown that its population was just over four million, with natural increase at a respectable 1.4 per cent and the crude birth rate down from more than 30 per 1,000 in the 1960s to less than 19. Gross domestic product per head was $4,716 and it was growing in 1970 at the rate of 15.4 per cent. By the year 1973, this had risen to $7,269 and growth was just under 24 per cent. Private consumption expenditure in the same period rose from $14 billion to almost $23 billion, and the annual growth rate was 32 per cent. Government consumption expenditure was lagging slightly at 23.5 per cent in 1973.

Exports in 1970 were of the order of $12.3 billion, with re-exports of $2.8 billion and imports of $17.6 billion, giving a total trade of $32.8 billion. Textiles and garments were by far the largest element in our export trade then as now, accounting for 45 per cent by value and employing 40 per cent of the labour force which then totalled about 570,000 men and women. Plastics of all kinds was the second biggest, making up about a quarter of our exports. As for the major destinations, in spite of textile restraints imposed by both countries, the United States and Britain accounted for 54 per cent of our exports. Germany, Japan, Canada and Australia followed.

In terms of housing, about 43 per cent of Hong Kong's people were living in government- provided or government-assisted accommodation with controlled rents, but sturdy and dependable as the old resettlement estates were (the oldest then being 15 years) they were showing signs of deterioration. The first of a new generation of estates offering 35 square feet

per adult was opened in November, 1970. It was also the 500th block. The all-in rent of a standard room of 120 square feet in an old block was $18 a month while in the new block the space had been increased to 135 square feet and the rent raised to $34.

In education, enrolment in primary schools was 765,397, and at all schools and colleges the figure was 1.24 million. The government was proposing to introduce free primary education in its own schools and to provide three years of assisted secondary education to those in the 12 to 14 age bracket.

In so far as the territory's health record, the old bogeys on the Hong Kong scene were beginning to recede. Tuberculosis, affecting about one per cent of the population, was on the decline with 10,000 new cases a year and 1,436 deaths a sharp drop from the early 1950s. Diphtheria and malaria were likewise off the danger list. People were living longer and increasingly Hong Kong was noticing a trend towards longer life, fewer epidemics and

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