HKK 3/548/2 FC H 18
Mr Wilford
FEH 18/1
PS/Lord Goronwy-Roberts
REBTRICTED
40
25 Flag
HONG KONG: LETTER TO LORD GORONWY-ROBERTS
1. Mr Brook Bernacchi, Chairman of the Reform Club of Hong Kong, wrote to Lord Goronwy-Roberts while he was in Hong Kong, enclosing
a memorandum which the Reform Club was about to release to the Hong
Kong press.
Lord Goronwy-Roberts's Private Secretary has minuted that the Minister would like to send a full and reasoned reply:
there has been some delay in submitting a draft while we consulted the Legal Advisers on how best to reply to Mr Bernacchi's suggestions about the treatment of Chinese illegal immigrants.
2. Most of Mr Bernacchi's points relate to areas of policy which fall under the authority of the Governor, or in which we would only intervene after considering the Governor's advice. It would therefore be appropriate, as Lord Gorowny-Roberts's Private Secretary suggests, for Lord Goronwy-Roberts to send his reply via the Governor.
3. We should also give the Governor an opportunity to comment on the form of Lord Goronwy-Roberts's reply. I therefore recommend that I should myself write to the Governor in the first instance, enclosing:
(i)
4.
a short letter of acknowledgement from Lord Goronwy-Roberts's Private Secretary (which can be forwarded at once to Mr Bernacchi) and (ii) a draft letter to Mr Bernacchi from Lord Goronwy-Roberts for consideration by the
Governor
I submit draft letters to Mr Bernacchi accordingly.
17 February 1975
ACSES
A C Stuart
Hong Kong & Indian Ocean Dept.