to eliminate discrimination in the first Annual Review.
But this will be believed to the extent that it is also
a hostage to fortune. We cannot be sure that the
Community will eventually agree, and must leave open
the possibility of failure. But I consider that if
the Prime Minister is to carry conviction in Hong
Kong, we must now decide that we will honour our
promise to press most resolutely and publicly for
the change next year.
THE DEATH PENALTY To be revised in the light of advice
on the case of Lam Po expected from Hong Kong this week]
6.
The Prime Minister will be asked to justify
the Queen's decision last May to reprieve the murderer
Tsoi after the Governor had decided that the law
should take its course. In public we should hold to
the line that it is not customary to give reasons for
such decisions. But in private, and to the members
of Executive Council, the Prime Minister will be able
to repeat the explanation that I have already given
them, of the parliamentary situation in this country
at the time of the debate on the death penalty in
Northern Ireland.
7.
Both Executive Council and the public in Họng
Kong will however be more interested in the future,
and particularly in the case of Lam Po. This man
was convicted of murder and reprieved, and has now
committed another murder in prison. The Governor
has already discussed the case informally with his
Their advice is ...
Executive Council.
The Governor has himself gongidered the cane in the