TNAG-0076-FCO40-112-Retirement-of-the-Commissioner-of-Police-1967 — Page 50

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(15)

This is new,

far as am

S

Jawan sand. Love

(onumed.

Mr. Carter

As arranged by you, Tyrer called on me yesterday (18/7) afternoon and unburdened himself of much that is on his mind.

The events of the last week have left him bewildered and deflated. As you know, he is a man of considerable experience, ability and self-confidence. He has lost all of the latter and appears to be numb and without reaction. He maintained that up to the date (12th July) of his meeting with 0.A.G. he had no inkling whatsoever that the Hong Kong Government was other than fully satisfied with his performance as Commissioner of Police.

However, after pressing him to remember any recent occasions on which he had had differences of opinion with the 0.A.G. in Emergency Committee which might have led to lack of confidence in his will and ability to command the Force under conditions of extreme pressure, he admitted that:-

(a) he had drawn the attention of the Emergency Committee to the fact that the policy to get tough with the Communist Unions was what he described as "escalation" and a complete volte-face to previous policy;

(b) he had asked that if the Police should, as a result

of the new tactics, be obliged to use force including lethal weapons, they should be supported by Government against any allegations of use of excessive force;

Note: He admitted he had been foolish to state that

he did not wish to be accused of being an accessory to manslaughter.

(c) he had taken a stand against proceedings against the

three Chinese police officers who were accused of beating a prisoner to death, stating that, in his view, the Chinese would not take such a serious view of abuse of police powers;

Note: I reminded him that Hong Kong was under

British and not Chinese administration and rule of law!

and (d) he had possibly been too outspoken in the She Tau Kok

incident in demanding military support which he considered to have been very slow in forthcoming.

Note: He mentioned that one company of Ghurkas was

already in an advanced position about 11⁄2 miles from Sha Tau Kok and not at base in Fanling.

He also indicated that there might well have been differences of opinion on tactics with the military, authorities as he said, in passing, "the Army wanted to wade in typical style".

Although he still maintains that at no time prior to 12th July was there any indication of Government dissatisfaction with his ability to command the Force, I suggest that the foregoing clearly indicates a divergence of views on policy and tactics which must have been all too apparent to the Emergency Committee. Incidentally, he added that Gass informed him that he had written to the Governor (Trench) on Sunday 10 July informing him of his dissatisfaction with Tyrer.

In the meantime, Tyrer wishes to preserve his state of incommunicado until it is decided how he may be best employed in this country. He was emphatic that he did not wish to be medically boarded as he felt this would be an implausible reason for his removal from office. He is however in a state

/of hypertension

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