0.0.
Mr Michael Montague Mr Ian Trevor
Mr Frank Toms
Mr H.PY. Hannam
Mr James Murray
Chairman, BNEC Asia
Secretary, BNEC Asia
Board of Trade
Principal British Trade Commissioner - - Far Eastern Department, F.& C. Office.
Hong Kong
7 Karah 1969
I wonder whether you would be good enough to ask someone to look at the following problem which effects our export business to Hong Kong.
I was there recently in the course of tour of South East asia. Some of British industry's largest customers in Hong Kong are Chinese with British passports but they have to obtain visas for visits to Britain, When visiting suppliers in other countries they have no such trouble, or if visas are required great care is taken to treat them with consummate courtesy. In the osse of visas for Britain however, these important Chinese gentlemen are are asked to lose face by standing in queues with lesser mortals and suffer what they consider to be indignities froma low ranking clerks. This they refuse to do, so the British supplier cannot get his customer to Britain and instead the business goes elsewhere.
Our Trade Commissioner has tried to solve this problem locally in Hong Kong by getting the visa authorities to accept his word in cases of important business and to give visas on passports sponsored by the Trade Commissioner without the owner being physically present. The local authorities claim that they cannot change the rules without authority from the Home Office in London.
What I am asking is for the Home Office to give them the authority to visa passports in this way when sponsored by the Trade Commissioner.
RECEIVED IN ARCHIVES No.31
14 MAR 1969
AKIL6/10
The Rt. Hon. James Callaghan XP.
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