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decisive moods, proceeded to announce to Mr. Royle and the rest of us the decisions which he had reached on this subject. He said that he endorsed the Attorney General's "parameters" (not the A.G.'s word, I may say) and that consequently he had decided that four of the seven could be released. He was not saying that the other three should not be released too but on the evidence available he could not yet decide in favour of release. The papers on the file were medical reports dating from July. In one case, for example, the medical report showed that the prisoner needed an operation. The Governor said that he was not prepared to order his release now without knowing whether he had had the operation and what the results of it were. These were questions which could be gone into in the next week or two by the Acting Governor who would decide whether or not release was appropriate. He had decided that the
warrants would be signed by him and the releases made that week because if he left them over to the Acting Governor it might lead some people to think that there was a difference of opinion between them.
9.
I pointed out that there was not much difference between the four and the three. Part of the problem was that the written medical reports were difficult for a layman to understand. When one listened to the doctor one got a much clearer idea of the patient's condition and on the whole I had got the impression that they were rather worse than appeared on paper. Mr. Royle enquired whether the Governor could not talk to the doctor at Stanley about these cases.
10.
The Governor replied that he did not have time for that before his departure on 17 October but the Acting Governor could hear what the Stanley doctor had to say.
11.
Mr. Royle also raised the enquiry whether the four to be released included all three about whom the communists had made representations in May. I was able to reply that the four included two of the three but not the third (YEUNG Wai).
12.
It was quite clear that the Governor regarded the matter as settled and not open for discussion. After a brief word with Michael Wilford, Mr. Royle said he accepted these arrangements and thanked the Governor for his decisions. Michael Wilford and I were then instructed to draft the telegram which issued as our telegram No. 704 of 13 October.
13.
The four were duly released on October 16. The fact of their release was briefly reported in the communist press and later in the other newspapers but at least up to 21 October the publicity had not been embarrassing to the H.K. Government. We managed to find one sick "honest burglar" who was also released on October 16. The search for more continues.
14.
We shall of course examine the remaining three cases and it is quite possible that some or all of them may be released. One result of the exercise has been to liberalise the conditions on which prisoners may be released for health
reasons.
/contd...
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