54463/49
3rd August, 1949.
60
7.
Dear Miss Allen,
Mr. Creech Jones has asked me to write to you in reply to your letter of the 7th July, 1949, about the recently enacted Hong Kong Societies Ordinance.
This Ordinance was enacted because at this time, when the Far East is gravely unsettled and orderly life in Hong Kong may be disturbed by outside influences, it is necessary that there should be a record of all societies operating in the Colony.
This seems to the Secretary of State
to be normal political prudence.
May I add that it is societies in Hong Kong with political affiliations outside it which are made unlawful. Individuals in Hong Kong are not debarred from membership of foreign political parties. We also hope that, provided the laws of the Colony are respected, asylum may still be enjoyed as here to fore without differentiation on political grounds.
Yours truly,
(Sgd.) N.D. WATSON.
Private Secretary.
Miss E. Allen,
National Council for Civil Liberties.
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