From The Minister of State
HKK 430/1
MASAIN, WO.
HELLINO IN EISIIN, Foreign and Commonwealth Office
INDEX
- 2 FEB0/%
PA
No las l
The Rt Hon The Lord Goronwy-Roberts
A
Seme Bali,
London SW1A 2AH
1 February 1978
Thank you for your letter of 17 January enclosing the letter signed by yourself, Frank Hooley and Stan Newens, about the dispute between the Hong Kong Government and the Shorthand and Audio Typists' Association.
7
I certainly agree that the appointment of an independent arbitrator remains the most hopeful way of achieving a final solution to this dispute. At the same time, I attach over-1200.g importance to the establishment of proper machinery for settin disputes within the public services in Hong Kong. I am, there reluctant to do anything that might prejudice this, even so which is desirable in itself.
When I met Mrs Cheung and Miss So on 18 January, I tac to do what I could to help bring this dispute to a satisfacto.j conclusion. This undertaking was naturally given without commitment, but what I am hoping to achieve is the re-opo... negotiations between the two sides with a view to achievi.. least an interim solution acceptable to both parties. Clic are already in correspondence with the Hong Kong Government to this end and we are putting forward some suggestions where O believe a compromise to be possible. Our objective is to enable relations between the two sides to return to a more normal bacis pending the introduction of the full-scale machinery. This could then be used to finally resolve any outstanding probl
Pany Esq MP
Commone