398
Mr Lauril
CONFIDENTIAL
Mr Cumming. Suce is in
Northern Irelandl
MV Laud
BRITISH HIGH COMMISSION
P.O. BOX 1812
WELLINGTON
World
MY Camii's Porce
Wi
16 November 1970
AN-
LAST
My dear Leslie,
10.
NEXT
REF.
64
Many thanks for your letter HKK 10/9 of 29 October, about the Hong Kong Defence Contribution.
2. I cannot recall with complete clarity the whole course of the 1966 negotiations, which at one stage at least became pretty untidy. I remember that this was particularly the case one morning when Mr Fred Lee, accompanied by Alec Cumming-Bruce, who was then his Private Secretary, and me, saw all the unofficial members of Exco and Legco to try to convince them that Hong Kong would have to increase its defence contribution. These did not take the form of a single meeting with all members of Umelco, but consisted of a series of talks with small groups of Umelco members, each lasting
In the about 30 minutes which took up the whole of the morning. course of several of these discussions one of the constantly recur- ring themes was that Hong Kong could not afford to increase its defence contribution because of the heavy outlays the Colony faced in providing social services for its rapidly expanding population; and the reproach was several times made that the Colony had had no help from HMG in coping with the huge problems caused by the influx of refugees from the Mainland. While I do not recall Fred Lee saying anything on that occasion (or indeed on any other occasion when I was present) which could be construed as an under- taking that HMG would provide aid to Hong Kong to "compensate" for a higher defence contribution, I am sure that Mr Lee, while making clear that he could not commit the Government, did say that he personally felt that Hong Kong had a good case for receiving some help from HMG and that he would look into the possibilities on his return. I do not think it was anything more specific than that.
3. I remember that C. Y. Kwan was one of those who particularly pressed the point that HMG should provide Hong Kong with help in the aid field.
4.
The feeling that HMG should provide the Colony with some measure of aid stemmed, I believe, largely from an emotional feel- ing that Hong Kong is, after all, a British Colony, and as such Britain should consider her problems more sympathetically and show a readiness to help which had, unfortunately, been totally lacking when Hong Kong was particularly beset with the sudden influx of refugees from the Mainland in the early part of the last decade. That we gave the Colony no financial help over these problems was not due to any lack of effort on the part of the old Colonial Office, but resulted from an absolute refusal on the part of the Treasury to do anything for Hong Kong, which the Treasury maintained
too rich and ought to do more by way of em
I always "N
was
Sir Leslie Monson, KCMG.,
Foreign and Commonwealth Office,
REGISTRY No.51
-
- 5 FEB 1971
/thought
London SW1.
CONFIDENTIAL
AKK 10/9
1019