ADMINISTRATION IN CONFIDENCE
DEPARTMENT OF TRADE
1 VICTORIA STREET
LONDON SWTH DET
XPM 411/HONG KONG
21 MAY 1979
ledhone Direct Line
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7
3229
01-215 01-215 7877
Our Ref: ED 97/06
RM Russell Esq Chief Inspector
Foreign & Commonwealth Office Room 712, Curtis Green London SW1A 2JD
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BCARFE POST IN HONG KONG
11 May 1979
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Aversary. If this took dupporting a four to ovavate it looke fer to chop.
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1. Last June, your Inspectors reported on the post of British Civil Aviation Representative in the Far East ("BCARFE") in Hong Kong. They mentioned that Graeme Wilson (who had held the post for about 13 years) would reach the normal retiring age on 9 May 1979; but that negotiations were proceeding which could result
in his staying on an extra couple of years.
2. In the event, at the request of your Department, we concurred in an extension of Graeme Wilson's services until May 1981. Thus the questions posed in your Inspectors' report regarding the desira- bility or otherwise of his being replaced when he retires do not arise at this stage. However, I myself am expecting to retire very shortly. By the time these questions do arise I shall therefore have disappeared from the scene. Since I have now been in this post for over 6 years, I have seen a great deal more of Graeme Wilson's work than my successor will be able to. I think it would therefore be useful if I were to put my views on record at this stage.
3. My first comment is that your inspectors were inadvertently misled as to the nature of BCARFE's task. Their report describes it as "the negotiation of new traffic rights for British airlines and the maintenance of existing traffic rights ....
This is based upon the brief provided by my own people at the beginning of last year.
However, this considerably overstated the functions and responsibilities of the post; and I think my people described BCARFE's functions more accurately in the briefs they provided at about the same time for the inspection of posts in Korea, Burma, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.
His duties were there described as
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