CONFIDENTIAL
place in the queue for naturalisation along with aliens. Another point of contention was that the Bill as drafted discriminates against Crown Servants employed by the dependent territories in applying for British citizenship by naturalisation. They would in fact be worse off in this respect than an alien
who happened to be employed by a British Government Department
abroad.
4.
People in Hong Kong therefore feel that they have
been misled over the effects of the Bill. This in its turn
has revived the basic worries over the significance of the
new citizenship titles. I have explained to the Governor the fundamental difficulty of making any change over nomenclature.
He understands this but has pursuaded me that we can only
avert a major row with Hong Kong if urgent steps are taken to
remove the practical disadvantages which the Bill at present
imposes on dependent territory citizens. The Governor will explain this in more detail: but I think that the very
minimum which would be acceptable would be to allow dependent
territory citizens the right to register as British citizens
after five years in the UK and provisions under which the
Home Secretary could use his discretion to grant naturalisation
to persons who had rendered substantial service to the Crown
in a dependency. This would keep the door ajar and go a long
way towards allaying the concerns of those who have given long
and loyal service to this country. I think it would be right to link this with an additional provision allowing public
service overseas to count towards the residence requirement
for naturalisation after the person concerned had obtained
entry to the UK.
5.
I would be very grateful for your help in giving
a fair wind to these ideas. A good deal is at stake in
terms of our relations with Hong Kong, including in the
commercial field. I think it is essential to get action under
CONFIDENTIAL
/way