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İPage 317 of 344-
Page 317
October 3, 1963
e 318 of 344
veil. treatment he received from one local newspaper was unfriendly, to say the least. On the day after his arrival, the Hongkong Tiger Standard published a front-page item which purported to be a news story by its staff writer Peter Hazelhurst. This was headlined "Hear no evil; see no evil; speak no evil" and accused the Government Information Service of running a "Lower Albert Road Guided Tours" which guaranteed that visitors would see nothing of squatters, tenements, sampan hovels (sic) or of sweated or child labour. On the same day, Lord Lansdowne effectively gave the lie to this piece of writing by turning down a street in Kowloon and taking an unprearranged look at the inside of a tenement. The Standard reported this (under the heading "Milord detours while on tour") and commented that he had seen the real Hongkong. But no retraction of or apology for its previous remarks was made.
At this stage it might be said that Lord Lansdowne was leading on points, but he ruined everything by the so-called "press conference" he gave just before his 'plane took off from the airport. What he had to say was predictable and added up to nothing very much
apart from his
confirmation of the official view that the administration of Hongkong "meets the situation very well" and that only small, mechanical alterations were likely to be desirable. The Marquess, however, at least had the grace to admit that a lightning tour can only lead to a sperficial view much he claimed he had learnt.
however
But it must be admitted that the Minister of State did not give the impression of having learnt anything very much. His treatment of the assembled journalists was both ignorant and contemptuous. He burbled for three-quarters of an hour about his admiration for the people of Hongkong and for the administration governing them. Ten minutes before he was summoned to his 'plane, he started accepting questions.
"Platitudes and Pomposity"
The Tiger Standard had sent a team of four reporters to the conference well primed with awkward questions. Their fury at being baulked was both understandable and forgivable. The next day the newspaper headlined its well- written front-page story on the Press Conference that never was: "Platitudes and Pomposity."
The headline was deserved, but what was unforgivable was the fact that it appeared over a front-page news story. The Standard is perfectly entitled to say what it likes about such public issues; it is a pity that it habitually ignores one of the basic precepts of journalism: that editorial opinion should not intrude upon a news story, which should confine itself to a presentation of the facts in this case sufficiently damning in themselves. Comment should be reserved for the editorial.
The Standard went on to apportion a large share of the blame for Lord Lansdowne's evasion of questions on "certain senior members of the Hongkong Government". In fact it seems clear from comments officials have made in private that the assurance given to the press by the local authorities that there would be ample time for questions was made in good faith. Lord Lansdowne apparently adopted his cheap tactic off his own bat and against advice. And when the press conference met with such a hostile reception, an ex- tremely senior member of the Government is reliably reported to have commented: "He deserved all he got.'
""
The visit gives rise to two thoughts. The first is a regret that the voices of dissent in Hongkong have no better representative of their views. There is a genuine need for popuPragdeil 1 SubfeBi44 which could present reasoned criticisms of Government, of the local "establishment", of
Hongkong Affairs
Page 318.
37
the activities of the Executive and Legislative Councils, of in short which would business rings, of corrupt practices
adequately represent the interests of the huge majority of the population. At the moment a dissenter can turn only to the Standard as an outlet. Unfortunately that newspaper, by its treatment of such stories as the allegations of Police brutality made by Chan Kin-kin, has forfeited the respect and atten- tion of the very "Establishment" it wishes to attack and, presumably, influence. Hongkong needs a newspaper which can carry accurate and reasoned criticisms of the authorities which will command attention, prevent the drift into com- placency normal to any authority not faced with opposition of a standard high enough to test its mettle and which cannot be dismissed off-handedly as "irresponsible”.
Whitehall Ignorance
The second subject for discussion raised by Lord Lans- downe's visit is the method by which the Colonial Office obtains the information on which it bases its policy (if any) towards Hongkong. The Governor and his administration are responsible to the Colonial Office and presumably report. to them on economic, social and political matters.
But Hongkong provides the Colony's administration with no organised opposition; if there were a vocal opposition it would presumably be reported. Colonial officials are not like diplomatists abroad who, reporting on a foreign country, can hope to give the Foreign Office something approaching an objective view. The local administration is reporting on its own work and achievements and has a vested interest in most presenting as rosy a picture as possible. It seems unlikely that Whitehall is in possession of the full facts of Hongkong and its problems.
A visit such as Lord Lansdowne's is therefore the only chance of a fresh, direct, reasonably unbiased view of the Colony's affairs reaching the officials of the Colonial Office. In the days when Governors had almost dictatorial powers, the freedom of action resulting from their remoteness from Britain made direct contact between the Colony and the Ministry superfluous. Also the Empire was rather larger than it is today. By the end of 1963, however, Hongkong will be the largest Colony still in the possession of Britain. The citizen of Hongkong is therefore entitled to question whether the Minister of State for Colonial Affairs could not have spared more than three days for his visit to what will shortly be his largest area of responsibility. He admitted that a three-day stay could result in a superficial knowledge only. Can one not argue from this that it was his Ministerial duty to stay longer?
During his insufferably patronising praise of Hongkong's development, Lord Lansdowne said inter alia that Britain and the world were "fully aware" of the way Hongkong was meeting its problems. "We at home are proud of the British connection with Hongkong and value the partnership between us," he added. But is Britain (never mind the world) "fully aware"? Most opinions on the way the Colony is meeting its problems voiced by Lancashire textile men hardly seem to be based on detailed knowledge. Nor is ignorance confined to industrialists. In a House of Commons debate on Hongkong a few months ago, an MP who was born here felt able to moot an industrial complex to be set up jointly by Hongkong and China. If this speaker was out of touch with reality, he had nothing on a later speaker who claimed that there were only 50,000 British residents in Hongkong, 30,000 of whom belonged to the Hongkong and Shanghai, Sank! Obviously lightning visits of the type paid bord Lans- downe are not sufficient to guardagha&us faislators are well enough informed. In this context the proposals made
38
PaHongkong Affairs
by the Hongkong Civic Association for closer links and liaison between Hongkong and Westminster deserve close study.
Common Sense
One felt that Denis Healey was lucky in that he followed close upon the heels of Lord Lansdowne.
Almost anyone would have shone by comparison, and he took care to devote his entire press conference to questions. In fact, as a Socialist MP, he made comments on Hongkong's economic structure and on the possibilities of constitutional advance which were surprisingly and admirably restrained. His views on Hong- kong wages, trade unionism, social services taxation, the narrow range of interests represented by the Legislative Council and the danger that the authorities might drift into complacency were characterised by common sense and were
Down on the Farm
By Derek Davies
THE DAIRY FARM is currently waging a full-scale campaign against an unidentified organism which has been attacking the cows at the Company's Pokfulam Farm ever since last Novem- ber, causing the cows to abort in the fourth or fifth month of their pregnancies.
to
All the available scientific resources of the Colony have been mobilised isolate the organism responsible which has so far caused well over 300 calves to be lost. Milk production at the farm has been badly affected because a cow which "throws" its calf prematurely never achieves full-scale lactation. When the cow is lost in the fourth or fifth month, the affected cow fails to produce milk at an economic level. It is esti- mated that every abortion is causing a loss of 5,000 pounds of (potential) milk
which sells at about $1 a pound. When the disease first attacked the farm last November, information was sought from Britain about an "X Disease" which had infected livestock and
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all worthy of study by the Hongkong Government obviously learnt something during his short stay.
e had
Before his press conference began, Mr Healey said that he did not wish to pose before the assembled journalists as an expert on Hongkong--although he undoubtedly would do so on his return to Britain. The joke fell a little flat: it is only too likely that that is what Mr Healey will do. Several times during his conference he complained that the Chinese journalists present were not asking questions. There were two possible explanations of this. Firstly Mr Healey's brusque treatment of questions he did not like had not perhaps con- vinced the Chinese journalists that their questions would be dealt with courteously. Secondly they may have felt that someone who had spent only four days in the Colony would have little significant to say on the subject.
poultry. This had been caused by a toxin carried by fungus-infected fodder. This information was made available and passed onto the various local experts engaged in the attempt to track down the cause of the epidemic. The Dairy Farm has asked for and received full co-operation from the Government laboratories, the veterinary surgeons attached to the Department of Agricul- ture and from various Departments of Hongkong University.
So far the efforts to isolate the organism be it virus, bacillus or fungus have failed, although the work done has narrowed the target down considerably. It was immediately estab- lished that the disease was not Contagious Abortion (of the type caused by the bacillus Brucella Abortus) and that it cannot be transmitted via the cow's milk, the purity or safety of which has in no way been affected. The milk is anyway subjected to the full pasteurisation process
which kills all pathogenic
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organisms. It is still possible that the agent responsible is being brought into the Colony by a fungus-affected food- stuff (possibly peanut cake), although imported livestock or migratory birds may equally well be the culprits.
The organism is believed to be attacking the supply of nutrients or of blood to the embryo. Examinations of an aborted foetus have revealed a fungus which had attacked the umbilical links between placenta and embryo. Because of the resulting dehydration, the embryo of an infected cow tends to adhere to the wall of the womb, and the cow is induced to throw off the troublesome foetus. The researchers are also trying to establish whether there is any signi- ficance in the fact that the last serious outbreak of an abortion epidemic in 1929 coincided with the last very serious and prolonged drought suffered by the Colony.
The search for a causal virus has been handicapped by the fact that Hongkong
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