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Agreed, but I Thare his J.
Watsong doubt,
my
Most about putting another
Sir D Watson
PS Mr
2719
PS
DEATH PENALTY:
paper to D...P.C.
HONG KONG
A.R.29
Minister
188
Prints Secating will with,
mimale.
to consider A. Royle's minute. The suggestion for a paper
Two loose ends remain to be dealt with.
onis mated in Prials Office
At their meeting 28/9
on 11 July the DOPC suggested that we should obtain figures of
the growth of capital crime in Hong Kong and an analysis of
the grounds on which reprieves have been granted in Hong Kong
in recent years.
(147)
1.
2.
We have now obtained these figures.
Although the Committee
(178) 9 182
B & C
The
did not ask for them to be circulated I think it would be useful
to do so. I do not consider, however, that we need to circulate
a further general paper on the death penalty at this stage.
Secretary of State has already, in his letter to the Prime
Minister, described the situation arising from his meeting with
the Governor. We shall have nothing fresh to say to DOPC unless
and until a difficult case arises on which the Secretary of State
wishes to consult his colleagues. The present paper can
therefore be very short. I submit a draft accordingly.
3. The second point is that we have not yet replied to Hong
Kong's telegrams Nos. 965 and 997 suggesting procedures for
dealing with difficult cases. An earlier draft reply has been
overtaken. Again the reply can be quite short, in the light of
the Secretary of State's talk with the Governor, but we must deal
with the possibility, which Sir H Norman Walker rejects, that we
might want to go back again to the Governor before the Secretary
/of
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