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10. After discussion with Lord Shepherd's Private Office it was
thought that in view of the difficulties of contacting the whole group (paragraph 8 above) the best course would be to arrange for
Lord Shepherd to contact Mr. Harper by telephone on Monday and we are
accordingly arranging for a message to be passed to Mr. Harper on
arrival asking where Lord Shepherd could contact him on that day.
11. It is proposed that on the telephone Lord Shepherd should say
that, because of his responsibility for and interest in Hong Kong,
he would like the opportunity of an early exchange of views with
Mr. Harper, suggesting Monday or Tuesday in view of his departure
for the Caribbean. If such a meeting can be arranged, Lord Shepherd
would go no further on the telephone. But if it cannot be arranged
be in until much later (e.g. because Mr. Harper does not plan to return
to London until Parliament reassembles on 13 October), Lord Shepherd
might speak further as follows :
(a)
He understands that the discussions with the Governor touched
on possible future contingencies in Hong Kong and that
Lord Blyton in particular was not altogether happy about
the position as explained by the Governor.
(b) These were matters of some delicacy and any public discussion
of them in this country (with resultant speculation about
Hong Kong's future) could do great harm in Hong Kong. It
would therefore be helpful to know, if there had been any
discussion of these matters within the group, whether there
was any intention to pursue the matter publicly, in
Parliament or elsewhere.
If there was such an intention,
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/Lord Shepherd
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