WIB'L 51-74 33
NOTHING TO BE WRITTEN IN THIS MARGIN
Registry No.
DRAFT
LETTER
HKK 1/12
Type 1 +
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION
To:-
Top Secret. Secret. Confidential.
Restricted. Unclassified.
PRIVACY MARKING
Flag A
J. Tilney, Esq., M.P.,
House of Commons
S.W.1.
...In Confidence
See verned
draft-
From
Lord Shepherd
Telephone No. & Ext.
Department
am replying to your letter of
9th January on the subject of detainees in Hong
Kong. I note that you have already discussed
this question with the Governor and I gather
from your letter that you are well seized as to
the background of the matter.
My
The first point that I should like to
Fors make is that it is quite untrue to suggest, as)
Mr. Litton, that the Government is unwilling to
relinquish its powers under emergency
regulations.
Neither I nor the Governor have
any wish whatever to see emergency regulations
(and in particular, Regulation 31 which confers
the power of detention) continued in operation
a moment longer than is necessary in the
interests of the people of Hong Kong. This
has already been made clear in answer to
Questions in the House of Commons and in fact
the process of terminating the operation of
emergency regulations has been in progress since
September 1967. A number of the regulations
have already ceased to operate and this process-
is continuing. But the regulation conferring
the power of detention must continue in
operation until it has been found possible to
release all the remaining detainees. There are
Five
in fact only six persons now remaining in
detention and their cases are regularly and
1 -
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