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LORD GLENARTHUR BONG KONG
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INT - TODAY 11 JAN 1989
4
INTERVIRVER:
But our decision, or theirs? Will people opt to come to
Britain?
LORD GLENARTHUR:
There may be those who will opt. It is for the High
Commissioner for Refugees and the other staff associated with it and
ourselves to try and select appropriate people and to make sure that
they are the right people to come. But the important thing to bear
in mind is that this is a major burden on Hong Kong, that it is
right that those who have been here since before the change of
policy in June last year should be resettled and it is an important
international effort to try and achieve that for as many as
possible.
INTERVIEVER:
How can we turn to the Civil Servants. I gather that a great
many, about 700, applied for British citizenship under the 1981
Fationalities Act but only a few, a handful, about 54 (sic), have
been granted. Is that true?
LORD GLENARTHUR:
Yes there is a part of the British Nationality Act which
allows for that to take place. These are looked at very much on
their merit. It was gone into in some detail in Parliament in 1986
and the cases are looked at on their individual merit.
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