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with the independent cooking arrangements at Kai Tak, and the whole impression was of an underlying but not regimented orderliness. Morale among the inmates was clearly lower, and
the Immigration Branch Officer who accompanied me was clearly concerned at the length of time (now over a year) that many
of these Chinese cases' had been confined, (See paragraph 4)
Offtake, Including UK Quota
4. As the attached detailed statistical analysis shows,
HKG officials are maintaining a large reserve capacity against a possible renewed flow. Everyone was very conscious of this danger, and this more than anything seemed to motivate the urgency all concerned felt that off take should continue at a high level, and that no risk should be taken of
a low (or non-existent) further UK quota/offtake prejudicing
US or Canadian willingness to work at their promised levels.
There continued to be some resentment (expressed particularly
by Sir Jack Cater in the Community Council meeting)
that Hong Kong had been 'discriminated' against by UNHCR and
potential recipient countries precisely because of its
efficient response. The UNHCR Representative, M Terlin, who
clearly has the confidence of HKG officials
in a way that some of his predecessors did not, presented
encouraging estimates of offṭake up to end September 1981 to the Community Council meeting. He suggested that a further
24-25,000 should have left by then, almost exactly
equivalent to the current total, excluding China cases,
and making no assumption of continuing UK off take beyond
March 1981. But over the same period we may expect at
least 5,000 new arrivals. I was left with the impression
that it was the Canadian rather than the US programme that
might suffer if no new UK quota emerged, but even this would be serious given signs of an increased Canadian effort next year.
Vietnamese Boat Departures
5. The balance of views in Hong Kong was that there wouldi
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/continue