16
Fair copy
Note attached which I do not delay for recopying, as
now attached. Sir H. Moore has told me that he would like to have it
G. E. J.G.
with the file for the S. of S. to see on Monday.
G.E.J. Gent.
18.12.
H.R.C.
18.
As this whole question is likely to be before
the Cabinet shortly, I submit Mr. Gent's note for the
information of the S. of S.
2.
The drafts to the Admiralty and the F.0. below
it have been held up for the reasons explained in Mr.
Gent's minute of 17.12.37, in which he records the
departmental discussion at the F.0. on that day.
3.
Personally, I feel that we ought, even at some
risk, to assert our own authority within the terri-
torial waters of Hong Kong, but of course the whole
question of best maintaining British prestige in the
Far East, including the attitude to be adopted at
Hong Kong, is a Cabinet matter.
H.M.
20.12.
Secretary of State,
Memorandum and minutes submitted in anticipa-
tion of discussion by Cabinet.
I doubt whether departmental views will assist
in this matter of high policy.
My own view, for
what it is worth, is that policy and 'defence' have
got seriously out of step in the post-war period, and
that