(390
376
Flag A
761
Mr Stratton
Strat
PS/Lord Goronwy-Roberts N
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT: LETTER FROM DAVID JAMES MP
1. In his letter of 19 December Mr James seeks comments on a
letter from one of his constituents, Sir David Trench, the former
Governor of Hong Kong. Sir David draws attention to a case in
Hong Kong in 1973 which appears to give the lie to the
Secretary of State's statement in the House of Commons on
5 December that his action in the Bermuda case was consistent
with a policy that had been followed since 1947. Sir David's
recollection of the 1973 case is basically accurate but, as Mr Murray explained in his submission of 19 October, it was considered acceptable for the Secretary of State to overrule
the Governor's decision in view of the fact that Hong Kong has
no elected legislativẽ. In all of the other territories where capital punishment is retained, the decision has been confirmed. by democratically elected local legislatures. It is also relevant that, at that time, Parliament was considering the question of capital punishment in Northem Ireland and it was feared that to allow an execution to take place in a dependent territory at
that time could have an unfortunate effect on the debate in this
country. Since the 1973 case, the Governor of Hong Kong has always commuted the death sentence and the Secretary of State has said that this position must be maintained.
Flag B 169
2.
I submit a draft reply.
Now see
6
HKG 380/1 (1978)
22 December 1977
cc: PS
PS/Mr Rowlands
PS/PUS
Sir A Duff
Mr Cortazzi
Mr Stephen
Mr Rushford Mr Duff (WIAD News Dept
нка 386
.:).E. Quantall
pp
J A B Stewart
Hong Kong & General Department
RECEIVED IN REGISTRY NO. 51
- 5 JAN 1978
DESK OFFICER
INDEX
NO
REGISTRY
Action Taken
Smather
22. Joe.