CONFIDENTIAL
take a small group of refugees into Bermuda. Mr Ridley did not accept this; surely the problem was over the precedent for the future. On the Shipping Register, Sir John Plowman said that if Bermuda abandoned its Register, the ships would probably register in Panama, which would not accommodate refugees. Why should Bermuda take them? Mr Ridley was appalled at this attitude taken by the paradise island of Bermuda, in comparison with the US which had taken in 54,000 Cubans in 3 weeks.
3 Mr Gibbons believed it was necessary, as Mr Ridley had said, to look at the precedent which could be set. If Bermuda was obliged to accept the refugees, he felt it would have to shed the Shipping Register. Six or seven was one thing, but the population was dense (2 thousand per square mile) and there was a housing shortage. Mr Ridley said that that attitude made sense, whereas to say that taking six or seven was impossible did not make sense. But Mr Gibbons said that for the reason Sir John Plowman had given it would be better if the eight found their way into a larger community. If Bermuda maintained a Shipping Register, they needed an absolute assurance that they would not need to take any more refugees; the social consequences of such a liability would be disastrous. He therefore asked if there was any formula that could be worked out to provide this assurance, otherwise they would have to disband the Register. Mr Ridley said the problem was a humanitarian one we all had to help with. If Bermuda took some refugees, it was a sign that they were playing their part, and people would agree to protect Bermuda from what was unreasonable in the future. But if Bermuda took none, no one would feel inclined to relieve them of their obligations if a Bermudian ship picked up say 1,000 refugees.
4
Mr Woolridge said that Bermuda only covered 204 square miles, making it the most densely populated state in the world. To absorb these refugees would create political difficulties he would not want to face. If Bermuda took the Vietnamese and refused to accept people coming from Jamaica or Haiti, there would be hell to pay. Two thirds of the Bermudian population was black; to allow non-blacks in, but not blacks, would be dynamite. Where would they find jobs or homes? No one spoke their language. He would go so far as to say that Bermuda could contribute up to $50,000 but it could not take any people. Mr Ridley said that the difference between Cubans, Haitians, etc and Vietnamese was that the latter had been kicked out of their country. Sir John Plowman repeated that Home Office experts had thought there would be a real problem of assimilation. He also complained that during 21 years of dealing with Shipping Register problems, never once had the responsibility of a flag state to pick up refugees been mentioned to him. Moreover Bermuda had not been consulted over the agreement Britain had entered into on their behalf. Mr Ridley replied that if tomorrow a Bermudian ship picked up 20 refugees at sea, and Singapore as the ship's next port of call asked for a guaranteee that they would be resettled, Mr Ridley would not, in the light of this con- versation with the Bermudian Ministers now, give such a guarantee.
2
CONFIDENTTAL.
/Singapore