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conduct at the time of the hearing led to a travesty
of justice.
We have no reason to believe that the
Laker Airways 'application was less than fairly dealt
with in Hong Kong. The application was rejected by
the UK Civil Aviation Authority for essentially the
same reason. It would however in the view of the
Legal Advisers be unsafe to answer Sir Freddie's letter
without checking the facts carefully with Hong Kong.
It is also only fair to give the Hong Kong Government
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the chance to reply to the serious allegations made
against them. We propose therefore to send them a copy
of Sir Freddie's letter together with the proposed
draft reply, which we will clear with the DOT and
which the Hong Kong Government may of course wish to
amplify.
4.
It is possible that Sir Freddie Laker may not
realise that his allegations would be passed on to
Hong Kong as a matter of course. There is at the
moment another application from Laker Airways before
the Hong Kong Licensing authorities and he could take
the view that the Hong Kong Government would be further
prejudiced against him after reading his letter.
While the DOT accept that the Secretary of State does
not require anyone's permission to consult Hong Kong,
in these special circumstances they have urged us strongly to let Sir Freddie know what her are eli
is proposed. We would not intend to write to Hong
Kong until after Sir Freddie had received the attached
letter.
(16941) Dd.897300 250m 9/72 G.W.B.Ltd. Gp.863
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