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Sir Charles Jeffries.
At the last meeting of the Smaller Territories Committee, it was agreed that each member should send in his or her impression of the general ideas that had emerged during the six sessions of the Comittee and that these should be amalgamated into one paper for circulation to the Committee and further discussion,
From the contributions which have so far been received, it does not seem as if it is going to be very practicable to combine them and Miss Perham, whose contribution is the^abat generál, makes the suggestion that, we may wish to circulate them separately.
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I have sent to the Chairman copies of the contributions I have received from Miss Ferham, Sir John Maude and Colonel Dodds-Parker, Copies of the first two are attached. That from Colonel Dodds-Parker I sent to Sir Frederick Rees in original.
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Mr. Reid's contribution, which I mentioned to you recently, I have not yet sent to Sir F. Rees, because you may think that we should suggest to the Chairman that as it deals not with general principles, for which members were asked, but with the particular territory of Hong Kong, and as it proposes a "new constitution" for Hong Kong for the "near future" rather than attempting to deal with the ultimate constitutional objective referred to in the Terms of Reference, it would be better if it were not circulated to the Committee for discussion.
It will need delicate handling if the contributions of some members are circulated and not others, and I do not know if you will think a letter to the Chairman as in the attached draft meets the case?
Besides Mr. Reid, Sir John Maude has written a paper about the immediate constitutional problems in Hong Kong.
I attach a copy of this and Sir J. Maude's covering letter in which he says
*You may like to have a word with Sir C. Jeffries about this. If he thinks that this point of view ought to be considered, I am quite ready to put in this paper (of course with the Chairman's consent) as a note of my own. If not, use it
as you like for a general note".
This would, perhaps, make it possible to use this note as a basis for the minutes about the Committee's discussion on Hong Kong which I have not yet circulated.
In my acknowledgment to Sir J. Haude, I mentioned the possi- bility of circulating his note over his signature, but if, as I gather, you wish to divert the Committee's attention from immediate problems to long-term objectives, it would no doubt be best for neither Mr. Reid's nor Sir J. Maude's paper to be circulated and the exclusion of two rather than one may make it a little easier.
Finally, the proposal for the next meeting was, I think, that the Committee should be further informed as to what the present position is in regard to the latest recommendations from the Governor and that, to this end, Mr. Sidebotham or Mr. Faskin should be asked to meet the Committee. Here, again, it may be felt that it would be preferable to avoid further discussion of Hong Kong in the Committee until a decision on the constitutional despatch from Hong Kong which is, I gather, outstanding, has been taken.
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