101
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CALL ON THE SECRETARY OF STATE BY est (múnissiar
MR TOM PENDRY MP 12.30 pm, 6 SEPTEMBER 1973
asanteth.
Present
The Rt Hon Sir Alec Douglas
Mr Tom Pendry MP
Home KT MP
.M.
13/9
Mr R B Crowson
Mr P H Grattan
1.
Sir Alec Douglas-Home welcomed Mr Pendry, who said that he
had just had a busy visit to Hong Kong, and on the way back had
stopped off in the Seychelles.
2.
Mr Pendry said that he thought Sir Murray MacLehose was well
in tune with people's feelings in Hong Kong. His social programmes
were very good. But there remained irritants below the surface.
The worst of these was corruption. Hong Kong people accepted some
degree of corruption, but the Godber case went beyond the limits
and feeling in Hong Kong that he should be returned was very strong
indeed. He and Mr George Cunningham MP, who had visited Hong Kong
with him, had been constantly pressed about this. There had been
student demonstrations, but he personally thought that that was not
the right way to go about the matter. There was a lack of
confidence in the Hong Kong police force. He had spent two days
with them and had found their morale low, although there were many
very good officers and men in the Force. The problem was at the
top. The Commissioner himself was above suspicion, but there was
little confidence in the man who was expected to succeed him. This
was thought likely to be Mr Slevin. Opinion in the Force was that
/Mr Henry
1
CONFIDENTIAL
¦