I COULD not believe my eyes on reading that an official of the Planning, Environment and Lands Branch told the South China Morning Post , April 5, that ''. . . there are adequate services for Filipino domestics''. Is Statue Square adequate? Are the few places of shelter provided by church and other private groups adequate? Are cramped rooms, street corners and airport lounges adequate? I wish the Hongkong Government would face up to its responsibility toward migrant workers. The domestics fill an urgent need in this community so their invaluable help should be acknowledged. The old High Street Hospital in Western should be given to the women to put an end to the perennial criticism about the gatherings in Statue Square at weekends. But apparently developers are to be allowed to turn the site into another tower block. So where else can a clubhouse-cum-shelter be found for the women's one day off each week, as well as for the numerous women who need shelter after being abused and having contracts illegally terminated by employers? When will Hongkong authorities acquire a conscience and do the right thing by these foreign workers who help free countless people from the drudgery of cleaning homes and the responsibility of minding their children? Or is this community so obsessed with making money and placating China that it will continue to disdain and ignore its less privileged members? L. R. M. HENSON Mid-Levels
