TNAG-0217-FCO40-253-Detainees-and-prisoners-convicted-for-offences-during-the-di-1970 — Page 68

C.S. 41A

2600077

10,000-3/70-874512

REF.

CONFIDENTIAL

Dear John

COLONIAL SECRETARIAT

LOWER ALBERT ROAD

HONG KONG

21 October, 1970.

see submishing

of 27.10

Sick Prisoners

246

enter vpn SM. 28.00

I sent Len Appleyard a copy of my letter of 7 October to John Denson on this subject. You will have seen our telegram No. 704 to the F.C.0. of 13 October. This letter attempts to give you some account of what happened during those six days.

2.

The first prisoner to drop out of our plans was the 16-year old at

1. When I told Denys Roberts, the Attorney Genera,

tober that the Commissioner of Prisons was thinking of making a separate recommendation for the release of that 16-year old, he said that the Board of Review (of which he is Chairman) had already considered the case twice and they might turn awkward if he had to tell them that the prisoner was being released purely on account of his age. He therefore asked me to tell Pickett that it would be advisable to "wrap up" his recommendation in some way, e.g. by saying that he was sick.

3.

I passed that message to Pickett but it was clear that Pickett thought it better to drop the idea of proposing this young man's release. He is not sick and presumably Pickett could find no way to "wrap it up". I did not take this very tragically as we still had seven.

4.

The memorandum from the Commissioner of Prisons recommending the release of seven sick prisoners arrived in the Secretariat on Friday, 9 October. Mr. Royle was due to arrive in the evening. The Governor and the Colonial Secretary were pinned down in Legislative Council from 2.30 until 5.30 p.m. The Governor saw the file briefly that evening before going to meet Mr. Royle at Kai Tak. He said then that he would like a written opinion from the Attorney General and would consider the matter when the "tumult and shouting had died", which I took to mean after Mr. Royle's visit.

5.

On the morning of Saturday, 10 October we had a lengthy session with Mr. Royle's party, roaming over most aspects of government business. Sick prisoners came up as one item. Before the meeting I had been able to suggest to Mr. Royle and Michael Wilford that the best line to take was to act as though

66

J.A.L. Morgan, Esq.,

Head of Far Eastern Department,

Foreign & Commonwealth Office,

LONDON, S.W.1.

/contd.

lakk 1/12

CONFIDENTIAL