TNAG-0170-FCO40-206-British-Trade-Commissioner-1969 — Page 22

(27).

Mr. Carter, HKD

VI

Reference....

Commodities Dept.

Room G69G

ری

57

%

RECEIVED IN RˇGISTRY No. 51 -5 AUG 1969-·

HKK6/218/

COTTON TEXTILES:

BRIEFING FOR HONG KONG

We discussed earlier this week the question of providing our Trade Commissioner in Hong Kong: with adequate guidance about the statement by the President of the Board of Trade in Parliament on 22 July about the cotton textile import policy. We agreed that it would be desirable for the Trade Commissioner to be given the text of Mr. Crosland's statement, the text of the guidance given to the Governor and the text of the general guidance to posts.

You agreed that if we would let you have appropriate draft telegrams for this purpose, Hong Kong Department would arrange for the insertion of the appropriate codeword (to ensure that the messages went direct to the Trade Commissioner and not through the Governor) and for the dispatch of the telegrams. Mr. Milne accordingly brought the draft telegrams over to Mr. Stewart in your Department for marking and dispatch to Communications Department. It now appears that the codeword was inserted only on the pilot telegram and not on the two telegrams covering the general guidance and the guidance to the Governor. There was of course no need for a codeword on the telegram transmitting the text of the President's message which went enclair.

In these circumstances I assume that the messages have in fact gone through the Governor (with the exception of the pilot telegram) who will therefore now have the text of the general guidance and will also know that we have given our Trade Commissioner the guidance given to the Governor. It is most unfortunate that after we made special arrangements for this to be done, the telegrams were not in fact marked appropriately and I can only hope that the omission of this precaution will not cause embarrassment in our relations with Hong Kong.

I imagine however that there is nothing

we can now do to pick up the pieces.

This case illustrates I think the need to try to dėvise some more reliable procedure to ensure that our Trade Commissioner in Hong Kong is always informed, when appropriate, of matters of commercial policy affecting Hong.Kong. No doubt this has been gone into on earlier occasions but I should welcome an opportunity to discuss the matter with you.

امشلتت

7.S. Whitehead)

25 July 1969

No Stewart

When we know

know exactly what

:

:

happened we had better talk to No. Whitehead