COMMERCIAL IN CONFIDENCE
3.
to CLP. The application was made six months ago; four names have been suggested so far but they were all quite clearly non-starters. Could someone follow this up with David Fenton as a matter of urgency and find out what the problem is? This will have to be done tactfully as I understand that there is opposition, perhaps understandably, to the release of good men - and Stones needs a good man as he will be operating very much on his own without the normal engineering technical back-up available in Britain. If Fenton is having difficulty, Stones thinks that Mr. Frank Tombs, Chairman (?) of the Electricity Council would be the right man to talk to. This would have to be done at a suitably high level. One way or another it needs to be impressed on those concerned that this is important for our future business here and that Stones should be given all the help possible.
6.
Looking
The Station Superintendent is the immediate problem. to the future, Stones is going to need well experienced charge engineers to run a new station. An assurance that everything possible will be done to find the men when the time comes will once again be a useful contribution to ensuring that the future business goes our way. There is a lot of money at stake and with the present state of the British generator manufacturing industry, we cannot afford to fall down on this contract, quite apart from the serious dent it would make in our export performance in the context of the imbalance of trade between Britain and Hong Kong.
7.
I am copying this letter to Bryant in OPG.
c.c. Mr.P.G.F.Bryant,
Overseas Project Group, D.O.T., Victoria St.
I.A.C. Kinnear
Senior British Trade Commissioner