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of the relativo prosperity of Hong Kong we are under considerable pressure here to ask you to increase your offer of £8 million to bring it closer to the cost of that element in the total bill which could reasonably be regarded as related to internal security measures. At the same time, wo fully appreciate the extreme difficulty of securing a contribution greater than what yourunofficial advisers will accept as a charge on Hong Kong funds. We shall hope to discuss this whole problem with you when you are next in London and thereafter we shall have to make a submission to Ministera. Meanwhile, we should be grateful for. an assurance that you are reasonably certain in your own mind that en intial £8 million is the absolute maximum for which you can see any hope of acceptance. If this is in fact the case, then we will at least hope that you can agree to some method of meeting the point in paragraph ↳ above.
SECRET
(K. M. Wilford)