Support plan for loyal locals

SPECIAL help is being arranged for the thousands of local men and women who will lose their jobs when the British Garrison leaves Hongkong, although offers of British passports will not be made.

The Commander British Forces, Major-General John Foley, said yesterday he would like to back every application for a full British passport by his staff, but that was outside his control.

Civilians and service personnel are entitled to apply for British passports under the British Nationality Scheme, a spokesman for the Immigration Department said.

''All applicants have to state a number of things, such as their connection with the UK and working for the Garrison would count as a connection, but there is no preferential treatment,'' he said.

''We do not have figures of how many people from the Garrison have applied.'' General Foley praised the work of the civilians and of the enlisted personnel who are mostly in the Hongkong Military Service Corps.

''The Military Service Corps do an extremely important job within the Garrison - they run like a silver thread through all units and do all sorts of jobs and tasks,'' he said.

''When they leave [the Garrison] they have a 100 per cent resettlement record, which I'm delighted about. As good employers we hope that will continue right up to 1997.'' He said efforts would be taken to help former Garrison workers find new jobs.