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Hong Kong telegram No. 1501 to Commonwealth Office
2.
basis on which prisoners should be selected for release would obviously need the most careful consideration, and it might be necessary for me to set up a small Board of Review to examine all possible candidates for a pardon. My initial view is that the criteria on which we acted would have to be related to the nature of each criminal's offence and the length of his sentence rather than, e.g. to his occupation. We could hardly justify at any time letting out 'journalists' as such regardless of the particular circumstances in which they found themselves in prison. Whether, as you suggest, release of those serving minor sentences e.g. for curfew breaking would really carry much weight in Peking seems to me open to doubt, the C.P.G. are not likely to be much concerned about the small fry: but equally of course if it would be helpful there would be less objection to pardoning them.
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The dangers and objections to releasing the bigger fry would be lessened if we could arrange that such prisoners as were pardoned under the prerogative were immediately deported (or agreed to go) to China. My own feeling is that a deal on this basis might be broadly reasonable. But of course anything of the scrt would need much tricky negotiation with the Chinese, and some measure of mutual trust on both sides would be necessary. A particular difficulty is that if I pardoned prisoners under the prerogative on the assumption that we should be able to deport them to China, and deportation then in practice proved impossible, we should be left with the men concerned in our hands and could not commit them to prison again. The reason is that, as our letters patent now stand, the Governor is prohibited from making it a condition of a pardon or remission that the offender shall leave or be deported from the Colony. It would be desirable to have the letters patent amended to remove the prohibition, though it might be possible to find other (rather dubious) ways around the difficulty.
5.
The release of men who have not appeared before the courts but have been detained either under the emergency regulations or under the deportation of aliens ordinance prior to the making of a deportation order would involve fewer difficulties. The problem of interference with decisions of the courts would not of course arise. On the other hand the bulk of these men were put in prison because they were at the time a threat to security; and it still seems doubtful whether I should be justified in releasing any of them (or at least those of sufficient stature to be of interest to the C.P.G.) without arranging for their deportation immediately thereafter.
/6. I am
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