I M Lightbody Esq CMG JP Secretary for Housing
HONG KONG
*17 February 1977
HKK 360
360/11
8
107
w/a
1.
Thank you for your letter HOU L/M-8/77 of 10 February and
enclosures.
2. I will bear in mind what you say about Mrs Elliott (and Miss Rosanna Chan) as and when they next come to our notice. Incidentally, I see from the issue of "MOOD" for 9 February that many people in tow income groups are said to admire Mrs Elliott as a courageous critic of the Government, although they are said not to understand or know a great deal about the subject matter of the issues she criticizes. Reading the enclosures to your letter, it does not sound as though Mrs Elliott bothered to find out the facts about the problem of Mr Poon Tim-Nin and his rent. My impression, however, is that while her intervention in this instance was misguided it was not necessarily mischievous. It is clear that the press report of Mr Poon Tim-Nin's case was wildly (and probably maliciously) inaccurate.
3. You may have heard that I will be in Hong Kong again for ten days at the end of March. Donald Murray, who has recently taken over as the Under-Secretary supervising my department (and several others), will also be in Hong Kong for three days during my visit. Both of us would like to talk to you about housing matters and I hope that this can be fitted into our programme. Perhaps I might then ask you to tell me a little more about the campaign being run to persuade tenants not to pay their rents (para 3 of the memorandum by Assistant Director in charge of estates enclosed with your letter refers).
J A B Stewart