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Dependant Territories.

12.

Paragraph 20

Insert the words "in the Mediterranean and" before

"outside the NATO area".

5.

13.

i)

Paragraph 21

Amend the present second sentence to read as follows: "The military advice given to the Governor is that the garrison could not be reduced substantially below its present level. This is also the military advice which we have received, although it has been suggested to us that the Army could be reduced fror 6.2/3 major units to 54, of which the majority would be Gurkhas, and the support ...".

ii)

14.

The last sentence should be amended to read:

"The current financial arrangements expire in 1976."

Paragraph 22

Replace by the following:

"Brunei. The Gurkha battalion stationed in Brunei is paid for by the Sultan and therefore costs us virtually nothing. But it could be presentationally useful in the context of the defence review to show that we were bringing some of our non-MATC commitments entirely to an end. In the light of decisions made on Hong Kong and the Five Fower Defence Arrangements, we would aim to inform Brunei that we shall be withdrawing the Gurkha batta- lion, probably in 1976. For political reasons we should probably then wish to terminate our present relationship with Brunei."

15.

Faragraph 24

Replace by the following:

"Five Fower Defence Arrangements. If we are to continue to adhere to the consultative commitment, our partners in the FI-DA will expect us to retain a minimum military presence in the area. This could be done by withdrawing all forces except for our contribution to the Integrated Air Defence stem and a minimal residual presence in Singapore of about 100 men to handle service visits."

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