m2.6 July
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Reference......
CONFIDENTIAL
เรา
Mr Stuart, HKIOD
stuart,
c.c.
Mr Wilford
Mr Male
Mr Hickman, SWPD
M Drishy
BD)
1/2 Chancery:
ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS, HONG KONG
Saigon Canberra
1. Mr Alan Edwards, Australia House, telephoned this morning on instructions to present Australian apologies for a leak of an Australian telegram reporting a conversation in Saigon between our two Embassies on this subject
2.
The Australians do not know how the leak occurred but the telegram has been made available to the left-wing "Nation Review" who have published it extensively.
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3. Mr Edwards said he was happy to call to present the apology face to face if I thought that was necessary. I said that I would inform those concerned; should others be interested in the substance of the leak they would be in touch.with him.
3. Mr Edwards said there had been one or two instances of leaks of this kind before but they thought that in this case it had not happened inside the Department. Presumably the inference is that the leak took place either in Saigon or from the office of some Ministry in Canberra other than the Department of External Affairs.
པོ་ཆེས་
C W Squir
South East Asian Department
29 July 1974
CONFIDENTI AL