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This
is strict and there should be no opportunity for poachers'. sentence was added to the original draft at the request of the Secretary of State and has been used in all replies from him and the Prime Minister. The use of the word 'should', however, renders this
More difficult is the sentence sufficiently vague to pass muster.
first sentence of paragraph 7 which reads 'Allowing Hong Kong to trade its legally-acquired ivory will not create a threat to living
There is clearly a elephants because imports are already banned'.
case in present circumstances for replacing the words 'will not' by 'should not'.
8.
However, the Prime Minister, Secretary of State and Mr Waldegrave have between them used this wording in answering over 200
And MAED have used the same letters from Members of Parliament.
line in replying to the first 300 of 1,600 letters from members of the public. If we were to alter the sentence in para 7 there is a risk that this will be noticed by the conservation groups who we know read these replies very carefully. They could then claim that we are admitting that there is some grain of truth in what Dr Leakey
And since we do not believe that the and they, have been saying.
Leakey case is proved conclusively it would seem more appropriate to hold to our standard reply for the present.
C42AEE/SLK
E. J. Hughes
E J Hughes
Maritime, Aviation and
Environment Department
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