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 naturalisati 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
/way
CONFIDENTIAL
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