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Foreign and Commonwealth Office
* NO. 51 1 6 MAR 1978
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Life col
WISTRY
dion Taken
Governor of Hong Kong
London SW1A 2AH
23 February 1978
After the conversation between the Prime Minister and the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary recorded in your letter of 19 January, Dr Owen wrote to Sir M MacLehose asking him if he would be willing to stay on until "the summer of 1979" which was designed to be consistent with your phrase about identifying a possible successor in 18 months' time.
:
Dr Cen
Sir M MacLehose has now replied agreeing to stay on but he has asked that, as a help to him personally and, "more importantly, to stop speculation" in Hong Kong, an announcement should be made fairly soon as to exactly how long the extension will be. agrees that, from the Hong Kong point of view, an early announcement is desirable. Moreover, the timetable for the Hong Kong legislative and budgetary programme means that a changeover between September and
(The the following April would coincide with the busiest period. Governor, makes his major policy speech early in October which leads through the autumn and winter to the passage of the Colony's budget in March.) Ideally Sir M MacLehose's successor should therefore arrive not later than early September 1979, which would just be possible if a decision were taken in the spring, though I realise that this is a little in advance of the timing in your letter.
Dr Owen realises that there could be circumstances in which the Prime Minister would want to take a decision earlier than the spring of 1979 (just as that timing could be too soon) but, if so, this would not prevent our deciding now to settle for, say, an August/September 1979 date for Sir M MacLehose's departure. Nearer the time, we
But for the may be better able to settle on a more precise date. time being, it would be helpful to know if the Prime Minister would agree that we should now announce the extension of Sir M MacLehose's tour to the end of August 1979.
CC: HKPF | MACLE HOSE
Yo.
...
ever,
(E.A.J. Fergusson)
Bryan Cartledge Esq.,
10
aing Stocet,
London SW1.
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