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some form of independent anti-corruption body and the announcement of this will be timed to take place very early in the new session so that any attacks in the House against H.M.G. can be countered. In this context I would say that several Labour Members have been to the Colony during the recess, namely Pendry, who is an Opposition Whip, Cunningham, the Member for Whitehaven, and Parry, the Member for Liverpool Exchange. Parry seems to be spending a month's holiday in Hong Kong with his wife as the guest of persons in the New Territory connected with Chinese restauranteurs in Liverpool. All these are well aware of this issue and could well use it as a stick to beat H.M.G. when the House reassembles. It is very pompous to come to conclusions after such a short visit but I would have thought that, unless the law is changed so as to make convictions for corruption easier, the mere setting up of an independent anti-corruption body is not going to be enough. My strong impression was that the judiciary are in a "liberal" frame of mind and are scared to death of do-gooders in the Colony although I do understand that the new Lord Chief Justice is much firmer than the last one.
(b) The Death Penalty
As I have previously said, the death penalty and the Godber case were always taken together and there is no doubt at all that the feeling in Hong Kong about the reprieve in the summer still runs very high. Wherever we met people, especially Chinese, we met resentment at the action taken by the U.K. Government of reprieving a murderer. Both Elliott and myself tried to stress that this was a Parliamentary, rather than a Government, issue. Again, this is a sophisticated argument that is hard to put over with authority.
When talking to the Governor we were told by him that, if he himself could find no reason for a reprieve and was overridden as last time, he would have to offer his resignation because his authority and credibility in the Colony would be destroyed. We discussed with him and with others we met the question of whether it would be possible to abolish the death penalty in Hong Kong so that there could be one big row rather than a series of rows over particular cases. We canvassed this point of view at a meeting of U.M.E.L.C.O. but were told by members of the Executive Council present that they would resist any such