Page 47
by us for duty in the Colony or for preliminary training
or assembly possibly outside China prior to assumption
of duty in Hong Kong.
2.
.
The C.0. agree that you should seek the advice of
the British Ambassador in Chungking as to the best method
of approaching the Chinese authorities with a view to
securing the desired assurance,
'I suggest at the same time that you also obtain
the Ambassador's unofficial reaction to a proposal that
a Branch Office of the Hong Kong Planning Unit should be
set up now in China, manned in the first instance by one
or two civilians with the object of contacting, earmarking
and ultimately engaging suitable Chinese personnel as
indicated above for duty in Hong Kong. This personnel
would be predominently Hong Kong Civil Servant and the
Branch Office of Hong Kong Planning Unit in China would
be entrusted with the general responsibility for arranging
that the personnel concerned were where we want them when we
want them. Presumably the Branch Office might be attached
to the Embassy on the lines of the existing Accounts Office
but its headquarters might have to be established in South
Fast China, possibly Kweiyang, and would in any case
probably have to be mobile.
→
4. The proposals in paragraphs 1 and 3 seem to me a
prerequisite of any effective planning. Please telegraph
results as soon as possible.
Page 47
Page 47
Page 47
Page 47