CO537-5001 — Page 117

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Sir C. Jeffries Sir T. Lloyd

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I have reported to you that at yesterday's meeting of the China and South East Asia Committee, the Chiefs of Staff put forward a proposal in connection with the decision (which is to go up to the Cabinet on Wednesday) to send sufficient reinforcements to Hong Kong to meet a possible attack by Chinese Communist forces) that the Civil Governor of Hong Kong should now be replaced by a Service Governor who would also be the operative Commander-in-Chief.

The purpose of this proposal was that there should be one single authority in Hong Kong who could take decisions both in the civil and military field on any matters required for the defence of the territory.

I suggested to you that a very much better arrangement would be that adopted in Ceylon during the war under which a Commander-in-Chief was appointed with authority to override the Governor if he felt that "any action by the civil authorities might prejudice the security of the Island or essential preparations for offensive action".

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I deciso a copy of a memorandum which was prepared in(I think) 1945 Section II which describes these arrangements. It will be seen that,in addition to a directive to the Commander- in-Chief setting out these arrangements, there was also a dormant commission under which the Commander-in-Chief would supersede the Civil Governor completely in all his functions if the Commander-in-Chief considered that circumstances were such as to make it necessary for him to bring an end to the civil adminis tration and himself to assume all the functions of the Governor.

There is a printed copy of the directive issued to the Commander-in-Chief Ceylon at No. 4 on 13029/62/44. THEMES Bennisfitted The Governor in a savingram of the 5th November, 1943 at No. 26 on 13029/52/43.

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I have not yet traced the earlier directive (issued in 1942) from which (apparently) the 1943 directive varied in certain respects, but a search is being made for the relevant paper. It is conceivable that in the circumstances of Hong Kong the 1942 directive might be more apposite than the 1943 directive).

At Nos. 28, 31 and 34 on 56359/44/45 are the texts of the dormant commissions issued to the successive Commanders-in-Chief in Ceylon.

Although, as I have said, we have not yet traced all the relevant papers, the ones submitted herewith will enable preliminary consideration to be given to the desirability of introducing into Hong Kong an arrangement similar to the war-time arrangement adopted in Ceylon.

(I understand that in Gibraltar, even in peace- time, the (Service) Governor is also effectively Commander-in-Chief, and that this arrangement was in operation in Malta until the relatively recent appointment of the Civil Governor. This is what

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