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CONFIDENTIAL
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Mr.
Financial Secretary, Hong Kong
Replies are required to the letters from the Governor
of 12 August and from Mr. Haslam of 17 August.
2.
3.
Drafts are attached.
I have little doubt that the object of the Governor's letter is to "soften us up" to the suggestion to be made later that Sir John Cowperthwaite should stay on as Financial Secretary more or less to see the Governor himself through his time in Hong Kong. We could make it more difficult for the Governor to go back on the agreement reached earlier this year by including a sentence on the following lines at the end of the reply to him
"We are informing the Bank of England and
the Treasury and the other departments concerned accordingly, emphasising that you do not wish Haddon-Cave to be told exactly when he will take over as
Financial Secretary until shortly before his appointment is announced publicly."
If we do this, we would have to add a paragraph to the letter to Mr. Haslam. Something like this would perhaps do
Lif Haddon - Cours
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"In this connection, I should tell you that
we have recently received a letter from the Governor in which he says that he is not now certain there is any advantage to be gained by making an announcement/much before the end of the year. He has accordingly suggested that the announcement should be deferred until, say, November. We have agreed to this and it is important,
therefore, that Haddon-Cave should not be told until shortly before the announcement is made that he will be taking over from Cowperthwaite in April, 1971."
4.
I do not myself think it would be desirable to inform other departments of the change in the terms suggested by the Governor. However, on balance I think it would be best to send letters on the lines of the drafts attached and to await the Governor's reaction before saying anything to other departments.
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(E. 0. Laird)
25 Auguet, 1970
CONFIDENTIAL
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