CONFIDENTIAL
POSSIBLE COURSES OPEN TO HMG.
(a)
Persuading governments of dependent territories to
(b)
amend their own legislation locally. In some
dependent territories the Governor no longer has
the power to initiate local legislation. In others,
where it is possible for the Governor to initiate
local legislation, there is no guarantee (except in
Hong Kong) that such legislation would be passed by
local legislature.
Indeed soundings taken during
the last week have confirmed that in all dependent
territories where capital punishment is retained,
local opinion in all cases is against any change.
The use of a UK Parliamentary Act to over-rule local
law.
Theoretically it is possible for UK legislation
to be used for this purpose but to do so would be
contrary to established policy and practice. For
HMG to impose legislation upon a dependent territory
against the wishes of the local legislature in a
CONFIDENTIAL
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