CONFIDENTIAL
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7. I took the opportunity to ask the Governor about Mrs Elsie Elliott, the most prominent of the elected members of the Urban Council. He said that in his view Mrs Elliott's heart was in the right place and there was often a grain of truth in what she said. The difficulty was that she said so much the Governor said that he was quite used to receiving a couple of letters a week from Mrs Elliott that it was hard to identify it. Sir Denys Roberts indicated that he and other officials took a less favourable view towards Mrs Elliott than did the Governor. Jokingly, I said that I wondered whether
**
That,
Sir Denys and his colleagues were worried that the Governor might appoint Mrs Elliott to a seat on the Legislative Council. said the Governor, would be a very silly thing to do.
Turner Study of Labour Relations
8. The Governor said that the references to the Turner Study and its terms of reference in the report by the National Union of Tailors and Garment Workers were hardly consistent with the idea that Professor Turner's Study should be "low profile". I understand the Governor subsequently telegraphed to say that he did not think the limited publicity given to the mention of the Turner Study in the report by the N.U.T.G.W. was likely to prejudice the Study itself.) As for the N.U.T.G.W's report itself, the Governor observed that its self-interest was blatant. There were no illusions in Hong Kong, he said, that the TUC was interested in improving the conditions of the workers there. Their concern was to increase the costs to Hong Kong's industries and thereby reduce its competitiveness. He said that Mr Jackson of the Post Office Workers Union had said as much out loud at his meeting with members of the International Committee of the TUC last December.
Sterling Reserves
9. I have recorded the Governor's observations on this matter in a separate minute.
16 July 1976
D.F. Milm.
D F Milton
Hong Kong Department
copies:
Mr Duffy
Mr Janvrin
Mr Larmour
CONFIDENTIAL