When the Lebanese civil war broke out the post was held in suspense and subsequently on our advice abolished. There has been some reduction in our information about air services matters in the Middle East: and some increase in travel costs from London. There has also been a very small increase in the workload on the staffs of the Embassies concerned. But none of this has come anywhere near to justifying our reinstating the post (whether in Beirut or elsewhere) and there can be no doubt that the new arrangement is much more cost effective.
7. This cannot necessarily be extrapolated to the Far East where the distance from London is greater. However, services between London and the Far East are now much quicker and more convenient than they were 13 years ago; while the travel times from Hong Kong to the principal points of interest are quite significant. When the time comes the question of costs and benefits will therefore merit careful scrutiny.
8. Perhaps BCARFE's most useful function, now, is to maintain contact with the Hong Kong Government on civil aviation matters. The fact that he lives on the spot facilitates this. However, on all important matters we consult the Hong Kong Government direct; and in order to maintain close contact I have myself made a point of spending two or three days in Hong Kong whenever I have been anywhere near. In practice, this has been about once or twice a year. In addition, we meet the Hong Kong representatives whenever there is a negotiation that affects them. If there were no BCARFE, we would have to arrange visits at more frequent intervals including visits by the Assistant Secretary and Principal concerned. This would add something to the load at Headquarters but I do not think it would be unduly onerous.
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which I suppose
9. When the time comes to review this post again will be about a year from now - I think it will be very hard to see a justification for continuing it at the present Assistant Secretary/ Counsellor level. My own inclination would be to put it into suspense. We would then see whether, like the corresponding post in Beirut, it can safely be abandoned or whether there are special factors in the Far East which make a resumption on some basis worthwhile.
Yours sincerely
Gaze
(G T ROGERS)