4.
Oxfam Hong Kong's call for an increase in resettlement to a rate of 60 per month is in line with the position taken by the voluntary agencies here. The latter have welcomed to Mr Eggar's announcement on 22 December while regretting that we were not envisaging a larger offtake.I do not think it would be necessary or sensible for the Prime Minister to take up the fact that our (conditional) decision falls short of the rate of increase advocated by Oxfam and others. Mr Eggar's statement speaks for itself and our decision is in any case a conditional one at this stage.
RESTRICTED
Allan
A R Paul