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migghams letter.
The petition went to the Chief Secretary on the 25th of March and the Governor was alerted to the fact that it was on its way to him through the usual channels. I said that I would be visiting Hong Kong in late April and early May/and would be available to answer questions in EXCO on behalf of the petitioners,/HK-UK pensioners/and OSPA.//
Soon after arrival in Hong Kong I sought an interview with the Chief Secretary and asked for news of the petition. I was given a date for the 4th of May/and told that the petition was still sitting in Civil Service Branch,/where it was the view that only constitutional matters need be referred to EXCO I relayed a terse message to the Branch to the effect that the petition had been addressed to the Governor in Council/and/if I did not hear immediately that it was on its way to that destination/I would demand to see the Governor to ask him why junior officers were arrogating to themselves his authority in this matter The result was a prompt and friendly telephone call from the Secretary for the Civil Service assuring me that although his office did not think it was strictly necessary, the petition would be referred to EXCO by the end of the month. But, of course, that would be too late for me to attend on the invitation of EXCO.I asked for a copy of the Official paper that would accompany our submission,/in no real expectation of getting it, and was not surprised when I was told that I could not have it. What then of submissions to Lord Caithness ?/The familiar tennis metaphor followed: the ball was now firmly in the FCO court./SCS then wondered if it was really necessary for me to see the CSI said that it was./
I am afraid that the confidence I expressed in the newly appointed Secretary for the Civil Service at last year's AGM was misplaced. We have not had the cooperation we expected from him,/and,/on this occasion,/what appears to have been evasiveness and deliberate obstruction, which is a great pity Worse,/it seems to us that he and his staff have no real understanding of our problem,/let alone sympathy with us,/and that this will colour any official commentary on our petition.
Wasting no more time, I saw the Chief Secretary on the 4th of May, to be received by him with great courtesy and friendliness despite our sharp exchanges on paper in recent months./
He assured me that proposals for protection of our pensions had gone to the FCO,/that they reflected the views both sides had expressed at our last meeting (in November 1990), that the sums involved were trifling but that they would not be welcomed by the UK Treasury, /and that he hoped he would be able to let us know what had happened in the next couple of months.
As to the petition,/that would go to EXCO as promised and he would tell me how it fared,/hopefully in time for this report/