CO537-2187 — Page 130

54147/47.

Not issued. See S. 786

47

minute

J12 May.

Wt. 29446/552 9/46 50m. S. & S. Ltd.

C. O.

Mr.

Mr..

Mr.

Seel 29/4/47.

× Permt. U.S. of S. 2/5

Parly. U.S. of S.

Secretary of State.

DRAFT.

The Rt. Hon. Ernest Bevin, MP.,

Foreign Office.

For signature by the Secretary of State.

TOP SECRET.

April, 1947.

FURTHER ACTION.

The paper

Nicial

which me Самий на пов corsidend has been

people

examined by my

I

Stay in the forum ie which

funker

(97)

(su (05)

new cuclose a

Daft

to me spintater

In your letter to me of the 25th February,

you said that you would prefer to wait until

you had had a talk with General Marshall before

considering a possible reference to the Cabinet

on the question of Hong Kong.

I am naturally anxious to learn what

transpired in your conversations with General

Marshall on this subject, and hope that their

result has been to lessen the objections which

you have felt to the issue of a statement by

H.M.G. on the future of the Colony.

From my

point of view, the need for such a statement

has certainly not diminished with the passage of

the last few weeks, and the Governor continues

to press us regarding what he refers to as

"the much-needed word" about our intentions.

In the interval since you wrote to me

have prepared the draft of a paper for submis-

sion to the Cabinet, on this question,-end

a copy. The proposed statement at Annex V,

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