DHINISTRATION IN CONFIDENCE
the way for the creation of a "British High Commission" which the Chinese would interpret as leading inevitably to political autonomy for Hong Kong and a "Third China' But there is plenty to be done short of such a drastic step. The main field is information. After the take over of the Diplomatic Service Administration duties mentioned above I therefore took an initiative in this direction. The result is that since late 1968 we have had a Grade 6 Information Officer and he is now setting out his stall, but there is still a long way to go before we realise the full extent of his potential usefulness.
For myself I suspect that we could also serve a useful purpose in lubricating the often heated relations between the Board of Trade and the Treasury on the one hand and the Hong Kong Department of Commerce and Industry and the Financial Secretary's Office on the other. But this is a contentious question. I merely mention it because you will undoubtedly suffer when trouble does crop up, and in the present state of affairs one merely has to stand by, hardly knowing what is going on, but being badgered by the press and radio for statements on the British position to put against the reports of the Hong Kong position which are filling the local news media.
In saying all this I should stress the obvious, that whatever one does to help the "British" as opposed to the "Hong Kong" cause, one must be scrupulous to ensure that nothing is done which publicly encroaches on the Governor's or the Colonial Government's prerogatives, but that still leaves a wide field.
Turning more to the nuts and bolts of our own office, I have in the last four years done my best to turn a Board
The of Trade Office into a Diplomatic Service Office. administration has been overhauled, and new accounting systems introduced. New filing systems have been introduced in both the open and confidential registries. New scales of pay and terms of service for locally engaged staff have been brought in, and we have allied ourselves to the Joint Services Consultative Committee. The rent allowances have been overhauled, and I hope put on a regular footing. Motor transport use has been regularised, and overtime curtailed. A regular aystem of office Instructions, Office Notices and Circulars has been introduced.
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ADMINISTRATION IN CONFIDENCE