(17)
26.
HKG 025/2
1 8 MAR 1981
DECK OFFICER
INDEX
PA
Summing up, the Chairman said that Ministers would not
ND
ja
пресп
wish to consider this policy for a third time. But he would
want to discuss the matter further with officials in London
and look at ways in which the position of Governors might be
relieved. However, this would not remove from them the final
responsibility.
But 2 1/4/81. Naked
CQ 1616
→ Item 6: The Decolonisation Despatch
Future
9 JTS.27.
Mr Morrice introduced this item. The Memorandum on
Policy towards the Dependent Territories had been submitted
to the Secretary of State and had been approved in October 1979.
It had been decided that the Memorandum should not be shown
to local Ministers. It was a point of reference for internal
use only. A sanitized version would contain little of value.
28. Mr Edwards and Mr Russell observed that the 1979 Governors'
Conference had spent considerable time redrafting the despatch
to include matters of financial responsibility, and to provide
an option to HMG of clawing-back certain constitutional powers
in those Dependencies that did not accept a timetable for
independence. All of these changes had been omitted from the
present memorandum. Mr Morrice noted that there had been a
change of Government in the UK and a change of policy. The
concept of accelerated decolonisation had been dropped. Certain
references to the retention of financial control had also been
removed because the memorandum was a general policy statement
including not only the micro-dependencies, but also Hong Kong and
/other
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11.
PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL