TNAG-0181-FCO40-217-Order-in-Council-for-evacuation-of-Hong-Kong-in-an-emergency-1968 — Page 47

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The eurent plan was

===

info of date when Aminlere derided in

to suspend

1967 and suct planning

(OPD) (67). 40m

Meeting)

of Ships Order, 1955) which took power to

requisition British ships wherever they might

be, for the same purpose.

4. The definition of "British ships" as pro-

vided in the Order excluded ships registered in

the independent countries of the Commonwealth

and those countries were individually named in

the Order. During the period 1955/58 the inde-

berritories the Gold Coat pendent countries of Ghana and the Federation

bom achieved independence

of Malaya came into being and in 1958 the Order

A

was amended (by the Requisitioning of Ships

(Amendment) Order, 1958) to take account of

this fact. Neither the 1955 Order nor the

amending Order of 1958 was ever published or

brought into force:

Orders

they both were and still

both

are held in readiness against the occurrence of

an emergency in Hong Kong.

5.

The Orders have again become out of date

by reason of the fact that a number of other

Commonwealth territories have achieved indepen-

dence since 1958 and the Orders could not be

published or brought into force in their present

form.

6. The powers to requisition shipping were an

form.... integral part of the plans for the evacuation of

Hong Kong. At the same time that that plan was

drawn up,

it was envisaged that in the event of military Chinese/aggression against Hong Kong, the

Colony's garrison would fight a determined

"last ditch" rearguard action with the object

of gaining time for the evacuation plan to be

However, subsequent developments

carried out.

in the Far East and elsewhère led, at the

beginning of 1968, to the scrapping of the plan

for evacuating Hong Kong in an emergency and it

is unlikely that any substitute evacuation plan

/ will

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