TNAG-0216-FCO40-252-Detainees-and-prisoners-convicted-for-offences-during-the-di-1970 — Page 96

Reference.........

Yesrat Gri's discreting

9.

(a)

•

would now appear to be applying more lenient criteria in their judgment of offenders than was the case in 1967 (the head of the Gasworks Union)

and it would be reasonable to argue that the

Board of Review should take a similar relaxed

view when examining these cases. There seems to be one inconsistency in Mr. Maddock's letter; in paragraph 5 he reports that the cases of eleven young offenders were reviewed twice within the

last year although prison rules allow only for

annual review. Would it be possible, therefore,

to have the long-term prisoners reviewed at less than the statutory interval of every two years? It would be useful if Hong Kong Department could

remind us of the criteria used by the Board when

considering remission of sentences.

It must have been clear from the paper prepared for the talks with the Governor in December and

from our discussion with him that we had been

irritated by the lack of consultation on cases which had come before the courts during the latter part of 1969. Rather than remind the Hong Kong Government "at every opportunity of this! obligation" which might be counter productive,

it would be better to confine it to occasions

when we think that consultation might have been swifter, e.g. the recent case involving the

arrest and sentencing of a former prisoner who

had not observed his supervision order. In

this instance it is not clear whether the delay

in informing us was deliberate or, due to administrative inefficiency.

We must conclude that apart from continuing to advise restraint on Hong Kong we are unlikely to persuade the Hong Kong Government to make concessions over the remaining 'Chinese prisoners substantial enough to evoke a response from the Chinese. Must our

relations with the Chinese, therefore, remain in a state of suspense? Mr. Denson points out that the Chinese would probably like to improve relations with us as part of their policy of maintaining links with West European countries in the face of Soviet pressure.

/ The importance

SECRET

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