CONFIDENTIAL
COVERING SECRET
balanced one. The present system certainly seems to assure a high degree of cohesiveness and perhaps more rapid decision making; but this, we believe, is at the expense of a more public airing of issues of public concern and contributes to the perhaps unjustified feeling that too much is settled behind the scenes.
It may also be that the decision to appoint LegCo members from a wider social background might in any case undermine the present cohesiveness and prompt the Hong Kong Government of its own accord to make a clearer distinction between the Executive and Legislative functions.
5. We do not think this is a matter which can be settled without a good deal more thought and are content to have it looked at over a period of time. We entirely accept that the Governor's long experience in working the present system must carry great weight.
BRITAIN/HONG KONG RELATIONS (paras 33-36)
1. We do not accept that the British information effort should be conducted by the senior British Trade Commissioner. It has long been understood that the Hong Kong Information Services are primarily responsible for this, which is very much in the Colony's own interests. The Hong Kong Information Services have done some very good work on certain specific issues in British/Hong Kong relations in the past and we understand that it has been agreed to make greater use of the Services' extensive facilities and contacts
in the future.
2. As the Planning Paper explains, experience shows that the Hong Kong Government provides London with a great deal of documentation about its activities but not in a form which permits officials readily to appreciate the thrust of policy on the matters of greatest political concern here. In some important fields indeed, notably that of fiscal affairs, a great deal of essential information about underlying policy is not provided.
3.
For this reason we are particularly glad there is general agreement on the proposals in para 33 of the Planning Paper for improving the contact between both sides.
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CONFIDENTIAL
COVERING SECRET