7
Mr. Bushe
I understand that you have learnt'
from Sir Stafford Cripps that this Privy
Council case was due to come on, and that
he was in grave doubt whether he would be
able to defend the action of the Hong Kong
Government in issuing an order under
section 6 of the Deportation Ordinance for
the expulsion of Nguyen ai Quoc by the
steamship leaving for Saigon. I gather
that Sir Stafford Cripps was of the opinion
that an attempt to defend this order might
result in the validity of the deportation
order under section 3 being questioned 1
which would be very embarrassing to the
Hong Kong Government in any such case in
the future. Sir Stafford Cripps was
proposing to settle the matter, giving an
undertaking that the order under section 6
would not be enforced, at the same time
agreeing to pay, on behalf of the Hong
Kong Government, a sum of 2250 as part
of the costs of the appeal.
The validity of the
order under section 3 would then be
unquestioned and the Hong Kong Government
would be able to expel Nguyen ai Quoc
without further ado, which is all they
have desired to do all along.
This settlement would, of course,
not be acceptable to the French Government
but