CO129-589-11 Port of Hong Kong- Report on future control and development 18-7-1941 - 10-10-1944 — Page 68

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Duncan on the question of the materials available to Sir David

Owen in arriving at the views expressed in his report.

67 Mr. Duncan writes:

"I cannot imagine for one moment that the Government would withhold from Sir David Owen any reports and recorded information in its possession relevant to the subject on which his advice was sought, so I am going to assume that he received a copy of the report which I presented to the Govern- ment in 1924.

On page

I am able to assure Mr. Duncan that his very compre-

hensive report was in Sir David's hands before he left this

country, and was carefully studied by him. Full information

was given to Sir David by the Colonial Office at home and the

Hong-Kong Government to enable him to carry out his investiga-

tions, and this included previous reports and all relevant

documents.

In criticizing the proposal for dealing with the

harbour of refuge Mr. Duncan writes on page 81:-

"Surely he (Sir David Owen) did not consult the junk masters' guild; for, had he done so, I am sure he would not have fallen for this proposal.

thereby implying that the scope of local enquiry was not as

wide as it might have been. I can only say that every effort

was made to obtain the views of all interested parties in the

Colony, and in addition to the large number of individuals

and bodies who were directly invited to express their opinions,

advertisements were printed in the local press, both English

and/