NOTHING TO BE WRITTEN IN THIS MARGIN
W(B)L 51-7406
DRAFT LETTER
CONFIDENTIAL
(20
Pike fam
Scen
413
(63) (66)
To:
From:
0.H. Kemmis, Esq.,
Board of Trade.
Mr. W. S. Carter
Thank you for your letter 222/78/77
of 17 February the substance of which was
conveyed to Hong Kong in our telegram No. 137.
I understand that telegram was agreed between
Miss Elliott and Herbert Stewart.
2.
You will by now have seen Hong Kong's
reply telegram No. 177 referring to the
second paragraph of our own telegram.
is about that I am now writing.
3.
It
I think we must accept that we are in
for another round of Swedish negotiations.
If these are indeed to take place towards the
end of April, then we have some eight weeks
in which to prepare the ground. This is
only a comfortable interval if we use all of
it and I am sure that with the past history
of last minute telegrams in mind (for which
I hold no one to blame) you will agree that
we should face up now to as many as we can
of the
issues which might
arise.
4.
The first question posed by the Hong
Kong telegram is that of a suitable venue
for discussions. We are told that the
Swedes proposed to go to Hong Kong and we
can take it that the Hong Kong delegation will be pleased to agree with this
$1 is On the
suggestion when the formal proposal for
further consultations is made.
CONFIDENTIAL