FO371-24688 — Page 343

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CHINESE IMMIGRATION INTO HONG KONG.

F5019

467

8 NOV 1940

Immigration into Hong Kong is at present governed by the Immigration and Passport Ordinance, 1934. This provides that certain classes of person, e.g. those diseased, infirm, unable to maintain themselves, or suspected of being likely to promote sedition or cause disturbances, may be refused permission to land, but in practice there has been little or no control over the movements of Chinese into and out of Hong Kong, and the provisions of the above Ordinance (No. 8 of 1934) relating to passports and other travel documents were definitely stated not to apply to "persons of "Chinese race".

2. An "Excess Population Reduction Committee" was appointed in June with terms of reference:

"In view of the fact that the number of the poor "population in Hong Kong is higher than is desirable "both from the point of view of defence and public "health, to consider and report as soon as possible "to the Government what immediate steps should be "taken to reduce the excess population of the Colony "and to secure that the immigration of further "persons is properly controlled".

The Committee reported on the 21st June, and in accordance with its recommendations an Immigration Control Bill has been drawn up to replace the above Ordinance. Very few Chinese possess passports (which would of course be issued by their own authorities) and the Bill does not require Chinese to have them; some document is however required for entry or re-entry into Hong Kong and the Bill accordingly provides for the appointment of immigration officers and the issue by them of entry permits, frontier passes, and residence permits, which would be accepted in lieu of passports where these are not available. Provision is also made for the interrogation of each person coming from outside the Colony and for the rejection of persons considered undesirable. There is no provision for any quota, and no discrimination is involved.

3. The scheme is intended to control the influx of Chinese into Hong Kong and has been prepared at the instance of the naval and military authorities responsible for the defence of the Colony. In addition to the defence aspect, the unrestricted entry of Chinese into the Colony has perpetuated social and other problems, due to overcrowding, which had already become over-ripe for attention before the present war. The Colonial Office regard the powers which it is proposed to take as essential for the Acting Governor to possess, even though the restrictions proposed cannot be made fully effective until conditions of real emergency arise.

4.

Representations have been made by the Chinese Minister for Foreign Affairs to Sir Archibald Clark Kerr and also semi-officially by the Chinese Ambassador to Mr. Butler. Sir Archibald Clark Kerr considers that provided

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