DB1AGB
V CEM
CONFIDENTIAL
HKK 040/37
FILE
9
-
-YOT 1985
Det & OFFICER
INDEX
REGIS
PA
Acting
FROM: A C GALSWORTHY, HKD
DATE: 9 October 1985
Dr Wilson
PEKING DESPATCH ON HONG KONG NEGOTIATIONS
A
1.
B
that his feathers will
now be
Evans
Please see the attached letter from Richard
complaining about Our decision not to print his despatch
and asking if we will now consider doing So.
I fear
be further ruffled by receiving
a copy of the Secretary of State's personal reply to the
Governor's despatch. This puts us in an awkward position.
Our decision not to print the despatch as a diplomatic
document was not taken on the grounds that it dealt with a
subject of only local or ephemeral interest: it was t ak en on the basis that it was not a very good despatch, and did
not address the wider issues which would have been of
interest to a wider audience. I still think that this
decision was right, and am reluctant to reverse it merely
because an Ambassador wishes to see his name in print.
2.
However there i s
the
recommended
that
departmental series, and
a further snag.
Although
we
despatch be printed in the
submitted a form for you to send
to the printers for this to be done, it appears that this form never reached the printers (or perhaps that they
themselves lost it). As a result the despatch was never
printed in the departmental series. The fact that nobody noticed this may be indicative of something or other.
3.
But
I f we ask them to, LRD would be happy to print the despatch as a diplomatic report in last year's series. they think that they would have to include a note as to why the despatch is being printed so late. I find it difficult to envisage what such a note would say, and wonder if
if the
result would not be a little embarrassing for Richard
net
Evans.
CONFIDENTIAL