Cop of
32003/5749
35
I understand that this draft directive for the new Commander, Hong Kong, is to be considered by the Defence Committee tomorrow afternoon.
This afternoon I attended a meeting of the Vice-Chiefs of Staff, at which the draft at No. 4 was considered. At an earlier stage in the preparation of this draft I was rather concerned because the military draftsmen were itching to put into it all sorts of sentences such as that "you will assume the military responsibilities of the Governor, including the Chairmanship of the Local Defence Committee", and that the new Commander was to assume operational direction of the police etc. Sentences like these were objectionable not only because they were unnecessary but also because they would seem to derogate further from the position of the Governor then had been indicated to him by Mr. Alexander during his recent visit, therefore glad to say that all these objectionable features have now been removed from the Directive and indeed the Vice-Chiefs of Staff went even further than I thought was necessary in this direction by striking out the latter half of para. 3.
I am
The point about the manuscript amendment which I have inserted in para. 6 is that, in the "Instructions" which were conveyed to the Governor by Mr. Alexander (NO. 34 on 94001/28/1/49) it was said that the new Commander would be responsible to the B.D.C.C. through the Commanders-in-Chief Far East. The amendment to para. 6 of the Directive in No. 4 on this file was designed to bring these two documents into line.
There is now nothing whatever in this draft Directive to which the Secretary of State need take exception at the meeting of the Defence Committee tomorrow.
20 June 49.