XN000022-1985-05-30 — Page 5

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THURSDAY, MAY 30, 1985

+ I AM NOT SUGGESTING FOR A MOMENT THAT CIVIL SERVANTS AND UNOFFICIALS CAN'T PUT UP WITH YOU, ALTHOUGH MORALE IN THIS SENSITIVE AND VOLATILE CITY OF OURS CAN NEVER BE TAKEN FOR GRANTED AND, AS REGARDS UNOFFICIALS, SOME MIGHT ARGUE THAT OUR TRADITION OF VOLUNTARY PUBLIC SERVICE IS SOMETIMES PUT AT RISK BY YOUR LITERARY EFFORTS. HOWEVER, WITH DIOGENES, I BELIEVE IN FREEDOM OF SPEECH, IN THE WRITTEN AS WELL AS THE SPOKEN FORM BUT, HAVING SAID THAT, I WILL SAY THIS AS WELL: HONG KONG AND HONG KONG-BASED JOURNALISTS ARE IN THE FORTUNATE POSITION OF BEING OBSERVERS OF A UNIQUE GEO-POLITICAL SITUATION REQUIRING A UNIQUE PROCESS OF CHANGE WHICH MUST BE SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED IN A FEW YEARS' TIME TO THE SATISFACTION, MOREOVER, OF ALL PARTIES CONCERNED. QUITE UNCHARTED WATERS HAVE TO BE NAVIGATED AND SO I PUT IT TO YOU THAT YOU HAVE A UNIQUE RESPONSIBILITY TO BE TEMPERATE.

+UNUSUALLY, BUT UNDERSTANDABLY, THE CLASSIC COLONIAL FORM OF GOVERNMENT CHARACTERISED BY THE SUPREME AUTHORITY OF THE GOVERNOR HAS PERSISTED IN HONG KONG TO THE PRESENT DAY, IN FORM, OF COURSE, RATHER THAN IN PRACTICE, BUT THAT IS ANOTHER STORY AND IF YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND THAT POINT NOW YOU NEVER WILL. THE DE-COLONISATION PROCESS SO FAR AS THE BRITISH COLONIAL EMPIRE IS CONCERNED REALLY BEGAN QUITE A LONG TIME AGO. IT BEGAN, IN FACT, WITH THE DEVONSHIRE DECLARATION OF 1922, FOR THIS SET THE TONE OF MODERN (IF YOU LIKE POST-VICTORIAN) BRITISH COLONIAL POLICY. THAT DECLARATION STATED THAT THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE ON WHICH HIS MAJESTY'S GOVERNMENT'S COLONIAL POLICY IS BASED IS THAT THE INTERESTS OF THE LOCAL PEOPLE ARE PARAMOUNT.' EVENTUALLY AFTER THE SECOND WORLD WAR. THE PERCEPTION OF THOSE BEST INTERESTS LED TO A PROGRESSIVE WITHDRAWAL OF THE QUEEN'S WRIT FROM ONE CONSTITUENT PART OF HER OVERSEAS REALMS AFTER ANOTHER.

+TO THIS END, BEGINNING WITH MY IMMEDIATE POST-WAR GENERATION OF COLONIAL CIVIL SERVANTS THERE WAS AN EMPHASIS ON THE VALIDITY OF A VERY NON-IMPERIAL IDEA WHICH, IN EFFECT, ADDED AN ADDITIONAL DIMENSION TO THE MEANING OF THE DEVONSHIRE DÉCLARATION: THAT IS TO SAY. IT WAS IMPRESSED UPON US BY ONE SECRETARY OF STATE AFTER ÁNOTHER, OF EVERY POLITICAL COMPLEXION, THAT THE INTERESTS OF THE INHABITANTS OF COLONIAL POSSESSIONS DID NOT JUST LIE IN ENSURING THAT POLICIES WERE PURSUED WHICH FOSTERED THEIR WELFARE RATHER THAN, FOR EXAMPLE, THE COMMERCIAL OR STRATEGIC INTERESTS OF THE METROPOLITAN POWER. BEYOND THAT, THEIR INTEREST LAY IN BRITAIN PROGRESSIVELY HANDING OVER POWER VIA A PROCESS OF CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGE TO INDIGENOUS AUTHORITIES. THIS PROCESS CONSISTED OF A SERIES OF STEPS UP TO FULL INTERNAL SELF- GOVERNMENT BASED ON UNIVERSAL FRANCHISE UNTIL, BY ACT OF PARLIAMENT, FULL INDEPENDENCE WAS GRANTED, THE LAST POWERS SURRENDERED BEING DEFENCE AND EXTERNAL AFFAIRS.

/+IF THE