(17865) Dd.145178 400m 5/73 G.W.B.Ltd. Gp.863
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4.2
In answer to a question from Lord Goronwy-
Roberts, Sir M MacLehose said that Hong Kong's trade
unions had predominantly political origins and affiliations. They fell into two groups and
principally existed in order to further the influence
of Peking and Taipei. He expected the trade unions to
exert some pressure for higher wages, but they were
currently not pressing very strongly for improvements
in labour conditions or hours of work.
5.
5.1
Death Penalty
Lord Goronwy-Roberts said there seemed to be
an irreconcilable conflict between public opinion in
Hong Kong and the situation in the UK. He did not
think it would be possible for Ministers of either
party in the UK to allow another execution in Hong Kong
returning to He saw no prospect of revising the Creech Jones formula,
which left the decision in the Governor's hands. He
recognised the problems that this would cause for the
Governor and for good government in Hong Kong. He
wondered whether there was anything which British
Ministers could do, short of agreeing to a revival of
the death penalty, to tighten up penal sanctions in
Hong Kong, in a way that would help the fight against crime and maintain public confidence.by blunting the
demand for the death penalty
edge of the
5.2
пориват
He
Sir M MacLehose acknowledged the force of
Lord Goronwy-Roberts's political judgement on this
issue. There was no doubt that public opinion in
Hong Kong overwhelmingly supported the death sentence
in extreme cases, and he was bound to advise that the Creech Jones formula was the right policy for Hong Kong.
Nevertheless, he had already warned ExCo that in
present circumstances no UK Secretary of State would
be likely to permit an execution in Hong Kong.
would, however, need to ask Mr Callaghan on 24 June
for an explicit statement on whether the Creech Jones
formula could be revived. ExCo had agreed that it
would be better to avoid a confrontation with the UK,
and themselves to advise reprieves. But this under-
standing rested on ExCo's trust in his own unsupported judgement of the situation in the UK. It might not
/anyway
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