Sir Murray MacLehose
GBE KCMG KC VO
HONG KONG
PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTI AL
Акк
ا المله
MAR 1978 3 March 1978
10
1.
You will by now have seen my telegram no. 180 proposing a visit by me and Michael Stewart. I am drafting this before I see your reply to my telegram in order to catch the bag which closes today.
2. The basic purpose of my visit is to be there with Michael Stewart, who has taken a great amount of interest in Hong Kong, to guide him in so far as I can, to act as a buffer in so far as I can and, of course, to be in the picture about whatever considerations may have been put to him. As you probably know, Michael Stewart is an economist of international repute; the author of several widely read books on economics, including a very well-known Penguin written for laymen "Keynes and After".
3. The secondary purpose for a visit is that, as you know, Goronwy-Roberts is concerned about the problem of new members for Exco and particularly concerned that you should do a trawl of the Hong Kong academic world. He would like me to see something of the various academics in order to give him my assessment of what is available there.
4. Goronwy is also concerned about the police situation and wishes to have as wide a spectrum of advice available to him as possible. He will be seeing Jim Crane next week and, as you know, he has asked if Jack Cater can come to London in, say, May. You will be seeing him at the end of April and he would like to have a fourth source of advice, i.e. myself.
5. This will be my last visit to Hong Kong, at least wearing my present hat. I have now been told that I shall be posted away from here at the end of May and will be replaced by Robin McLaren, presently Head of Chancery in Copenhagen and who was Assistant Political Adviser in Hong Kong in the late
1960s. He is a Chinese speaker and generally regarded as one of the Grade 4 flyers, so I expect that you will get very good service from him.
JA B Stewart
PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL