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They might to be regestand.
Tank SifS's to
Mr. Hall I infond Se D Trial of HS of 5 asht see home again.
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29
Many thanks, Since the meeting was roller short and unsatisfactory, ashed Mr. Godelen to tele bir D. Trench that the fof I would welcome
tete a tete, when he returns from leave.
a langer talk, including
Secretary of State
a
Hong Kong
Sir David Trench
O.b. Fanto
29/6
Sir David Trench arrived in London on Monday morning and on Tuesday had meetings with officials, the Chiefs of Staff, Sir Saville Garner and the Minister of State, Mrs. Hart, in that order.
In his own words, Sir David Trench said he felt very tired,
had been under considerable strain and doubted whether his
judgment was as sound as it should be.
Sir David Trench is undoubtedly very depressed about the situation in Hong Kong. He feels that superficially Hong Kong has come through the present troubles and has won each round. After months of organisation the Communists had made their biggest effort so far in calling for a large-scale strike on transport services and public utilities, but these have not been very successful. They are, however, using methods of intimidation and bribery and his fear is that if they keep up the pressure for any length of time this would begin to have an effect on the economic situation in
Hong Kong which would also affect public morale. The initiative,
both political and military, remained with the Chinese Communists
who could take action when it suited them. They could afford to
escalate events while, for fear of counter-action, we were unable to
do so.
t.
so.
The press in particular had openly published seditious and inflammatory material and had made it clear they knew they were doing
There were attacks on him such as "hang Trench", "burn Trench".
Although in general the poster campaign was under control, the
Hong Kong Government had not attempted to remove posters from Chinese
Government property such as the Bank of China or N.C.N.A.
The Governor was particularly distressed because he felt that he was acting as Judas Iscariot. The situation in Hong Kong could only be kept under control if the general public supported the Government. He had gone out of his way to persuade the public to stand up and be
counted
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