Our reference
L78/5228/DAW
Your reference
N. A. Ling Esq.,
Hong Kong & General Department, Foreign and Commonwealth Office SW1A 2AB
Telegrams Proctorex London SW1
Telephones
Telex 917564
НКК 38012
28 JUM
DIRECT LINE
01-2338208
SWITCHBOARD 01-233 3000
Matthew Parker Street
London SW1H 9NN
TelephonexdixD30736344124®x
25th June 1979
R+R.
Dear Ling,
TUNG -v- LORD GORONWY ROBERTS AND DR. DAVID OWEN
I refer to my letter of the 19th June 1979 and write to
advise you that I have this afternoon been served with Notice of Appeal to the Judge in Chambers from the decision of Master Elton given on the 18th June. The Appeal is listed for hearing at 12
Noon on Friday next 29th June and I will let you know the result in
due course.
Yours sincerely,
DA Watson
D. A. WATSON
Our rence L78/5228/DAW
Your reference
Telegrams Proctorex London SW1
Telephones
Telex 917564
DIRECT LINE
01-2338208
SWITCHBOARD_01-233 3000
Matthew Parker Street
London SW1H 9NN
Pelet
19th June 1979
N. A. Ling Esq.,
Hong Kong & General Department, Foreign and Commonwealth Office,
SW1A 2AH
НКК 38012
RECEIVED IN REGATEY NO. 51
21 JUN
DESK OFFICER
PA
INDEX
Dear Ling,
TUNG -v- LORD GORONWY ROBERTS AND DR. DAVID OWEN
I refer to my letter of the 9th March 1979 and write to
advise you that at the hearing of our application yesterday Master
Elton ordered that the action be dismissed as disclosing no cause of
action.
Attached
In fact, somewhat unusually
-
but perhaps in the hope that
it might assauge Mr. Tung the Master gave reasons for his decision
and I enclose a copy of his Judgment for your file. Mr. Tung is still
in this country; it is open to him to appeal to a Judge in Chambers
but whether he will do this or content himself by bombarding the various
agencies of the Hong Kong Government with copies of the Master's Judgment
I cannot say at this stage.
Should there be any appeal I will let you know, but in the
meantime, Lord Goronwy Roberts and Dr. David Owen might like to know
that they are in the clear.
Yours sincerely,
Duncan Wattin
D. A. WATSON
5
P
P
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION
BETWEEN
1978 T. No.
НКК 38012
RECEIVED 827 28VEITY NO. 51
1 JUN 1970
DESK OFFICER
INDEX
PA
MR. FENG-MING TUNG (THOMAS)
and
LORD GORONWY ROBERTS
and
DR. DAVIS OWEN
MASTER ELTON MASTER IN CHAMBERS
1641
Plaintiff
Defendants
ん
In this case Mr. Tung brings a libel action against Lord Goronwy Roberts and Dr. David Owen about a letter dated 19th January 1978 written by Lord Goronwy Roberts to Mr. Christopher Price, M.P. Mr. Price had asked Dr. David Owen, the then Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, by letter of the 9th January 1978, to look into Mr. Tung's case.
Mr. Tung's case arises out of something that happened in Hong Kong 21 years ago, Some time in the summer of 1958 Mr. Tung was a teacher of police classes in Hong Kong. He taught young policemen Mandarin and some understanding of legal terminology. He was issued with a Police identity card and was clearly a respected member of the community in Hong Kong. Apparently, a police identity card enabled its authorised holder to travel on the local buses without payment of fare and Mr. Tung did so. Mr.
Tung says that there was a corrupt Magistrate, Lo Hing Shing, and that he,
Mr. Tung, was brought before this Magistrate on a charge of evading payment
of the bus fare. Mr. Tung says that he was charged and that he was pronounced
without
guilty Mr. Tung has always protested his innocence. Mr. Tung also says that
the Magistrate destroyed all records of the case.
For many years Mr. Tung has written to many people, including Her Majesty the Queen, seeking to clear his name and it appears that the
British Government, to whom many of these requests were addressed, asked the
Hong Kong Government to carry out an investigation of Mr. Tung's claim. This has been done but the authorities cannot find any record of this case; nor
of any other case; nor of any charge; nor of any conviction against Mr. Tung
and they say that his name and reputation are unblemished.
But of course, the matter has continued to worry Mr. Tung. For
20 years he has worried about the events on that, to him, horrifying day in
the summer of 1958. It has preyed on his mind and he has thought of every
way to clear his name. Christopher Price, M.P. took up his case with the
Foreign Office by letter dated 9th January 1978 and Lord Goronwy Roberts
10