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Is it not for Hong Kong Government to ensure only
that in no circumstances are they or any other
evacuees allowed to land in Hong Kong.
As regards (e) in your telegram ander.
reference any such difficulty could be disposed of
by submission of cases to Government Medical Board.
Fact that number of defiant cases is very
small so far seems to me to be a reason for
Government taking definite and effective action now,
which should be at each stage and in each case based
on defence justification in pursuance of His Majesty's
Governments policy.
If any of the nine have been recipients of
subsistence grant from public funds in country to
which they were originally evacuated it could be made
clear to them that having voluntarily divested
themselves of that support it will not be restored to
them on deportation to United Kingdom but that if
before stipulated period (which should be date of next
available sailing) they return voluntarily to
Australia the original arrangement will be resumed in
that respect.
I should be glad if you would consider the matter again in the light of above considerations and
telegraph your
reios.