CO129-594-9 Membership of Legislative and Executive Councils 31-12-1945 - 14-1-1947 — Page 150

Orig.regd.on

Downing Street, S..1.

23rd January, 1946.

148

ml

14542/2/1/46.

3.1.46.

SECRET.

Dear MacDougall,

You will have heard from Hazlerigg that I have taken over from Gent, and that Mayle has taken over Hong Kong from Paskin.

2. Hazlerigg's visit has been valuable in connection with a number of matters, and we discussed with him in detail the particular question of the policy that should be adopted towards Chinese collaborators which, I gather, was the main purpose of his return. I now write to confirm our present conclusion which is shared by Sir Mark Young, that Li Tae Fong should not be brought to trial. Un the information now in our possession, we do not think that he, or the other members of the Japanese- sponsored Councils who promoted or associated then- selves with resolutions, such as the one which the Hong Kong News reported as having been passed at a Chinese Mass Meeting to mark the first anniversary of the Pacific War, should be prosecuted on that account.

3. North was consulted on the 1 Tse Fong case and Hazlerigg has taken back a copy of his reply.

reply. I enclose a further copy.

4.

fe have considered the question of prosecuting in relation to the following factors:-

(a) the likely defence of duress;

(b) the difficulty of securing first-hand

testimony; and

BRIGADIER D. M. MacDOUGALL, C.M.G.

(c)

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