PERSONAL & CONFIDENTIAL
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(a)
(b)
(a)
meetings between Hong Kong and foreign or Commonwealth delegations do not take place without the authority of H.M.G.;
H.M.G. have always been represented at any meeting of substance}
and
negotiating briefs have always been discussed in advance with the Board of Trade.
I am pretty sure that you would not subscribe to these sentiments, but that you would far rather see no more precise definition than the one Jordan (very reasonably to my mind) gave to your Textile Advisory Board on 19 August, as recorded in your telegram No. 661. Incidentally, I doubt whether we can go any futher than to reiterate this to them, since you may feel that something more needs to be said in the light of the deadline which they appear to have set. We might well discuss this with your representative when he comes here next week, but a study of the files here suggests that all concerned (except the Board of Trade) have usually concluded that it was best not to seek closer definition. Sorby and Moreton reached this conclusion and I think that you and Galsworthy did as well.
7. I have written at length to explain that we have looked as sympathetically as we could upon your situation and we hope that by the time that Ministers have come to decisions these may yet permit the extension and negotiation of restraint agreements as you would like. We shall do our best to see that this happens, but we cannot guarantee that we shall succeed. But the lessons remain} for us in hitehall that if we make statements of principle varying previous policy to visiting officers from Hong Kong they should be repeated in communications to you (of course, we accept that we cannot give instructions to your officers); for the Government of Hong Kong that H.M.. must retain some freedom to direct, and, if necessary, to restrain the Government of Hong Kong in matters of international trade and that for this reason alone there is every need for full consultation on all steps which you may be contemplating in this field.
(X.M. Wilford)
PERSONAL & CONFIDENTIAL