Reference.. HWB 14/61
13
Sir Arthur Grattan-Bellew
Letter from Chairman of Hong Kong Bar Association
Please see Mr. Carter's minute of 10 October. I shall not
be able to deal with these papers quickly and I should be glad
if you would take them on, consulting me where necessary.
2. Paragraph 6 of Mr. de Basto's letter surprises me. It had
never occurred to me that Mr. de Basto considered that he was
reaching an "agreement" with the Minister of State, let alone an agreement the substance of which could properly be included
in Mr. de Basto's Annual Report to the Bar. The Minister
listened to various representations made by Mr. de Basto on
behalf of the Bar, he commented on some of them and advanced
certain ideas of his own. My distinct recollection, which you
can check from the record, is that the Minister entered into no
specific undertaking and that the object of the meeting was to
let each side better understand the other's point of view. We
could not, I think, object to Mr. de Basto stating in his
Annual Report that he had in fact had discussions with the
Minister of State. But we cannot allow Mr. de Basto to say in
his Report that the Minister of State agreed to anything; and
if he has in mind to represent his informal talk with the
Minister as resulting in an agreement he is either being
singularly naive or more than a little disingenuous.
3. The meeting with Lord Shepherd took place on 9 August and
for Mr. de Basto, on the basis of his own plans for visiting
Australia on 6 November, to give the Minister a deadline of
1 November to reply is simply impertinent.
Copy to: Mr. Carter
JCHIP
(J.C. McPetrie)
11 October, 1968
Mr.
Carter
Sir James McPetrie has asked me to deal with these papers. In view of the tone of Sir James' minute, I suggest that the letter to Fr. de Basto should be strengthened. Below this minute is a redraft for your consideration.
/2.