Registry
No.
SECURI
DRAFT
MINUTE
Type 1 +
LASSIFICATION
To:-
Top Secret.
From
HSH Stanley
Secret.
Telephone No. Ext.
Confidential.
I
Restricted.
Unclassified.
PRIVACY MARKING
................................In Confidence
Copies:
Mr Cortazzi o.. Mr Stewart (IKGD) Mr Duff (WIAD) Mr Simpson-
Orlebar (UND)
THE DEPENDENT TERRITORIES AND THE UN
1.
Department
GJ
The PUS said that he would be interested to hear, on his return from Washington, about our discussions with Mr Richard on the UN aspects to the problems of our remaining dependent territories.
2. I told Mr Richard at my meeting with him on 23 May that we were considering whether we should transfer to Governors some of the powers which we have surrendered to local Ministers in some of our smaller dependent territories. This would overcome the present unsatisfactory situation where we have given up powers to local Ministers but there is no immediate prospect of the territories moving towards
independence. This state of affairs whereby we have responsibility without power is particularly unsatisfactory in such areas as finance, public service matters and law and order. I told Mr Richard that this idea had yet to be considered fully by Ministers and we were aware of the possible snags, particularly internationally. Mr Richard said that he foresaw difficulty in presenting this idea at the UN. He was particularly concerned that we should avoid the risk of delegations from territories where we intended to take back powers appearing in New York and making a fuss.
3.
I also discussed with Mr Richard the possibility of som international authority accepting responsibility for small dependent territories which could never be expected to go their own way. I told him of my past discussions with the Commonwealth Secretariat; it seems unlikely they will have a solution to offer. Mr Richard did not think that there was
CONFIDENTIAL
/any
Dd 108087 400M SEK 1/73