CONFIDENTIAL
7 October, 1970.
You will be pleased to know that we made some progress on sick prisoners during John Morgan's visit.
2.
When John Morgan arrived at Lo Wu on Saturday, 3 October we went straight to Fanling Lodge and spent the week-end there with the Governor. There were only four of us, the Governor, John Morgan, the A.D.C. and myself. We therefore had plenty of time to talk in a very relaxed atmosphere. Throughout Saturday we had only general conversation without getting down to any details. the Governor formed the impression that John Morgan had a correct judgment of Hong Kong's problems and peculiarities.
No doubt
3.
On Sunday morning John gave the Governor the record of his conversation in Peking with T'ANG which showed that John had expounded the Hong Kong case very well. The record of T'ANG's remarks about prisoners in Hong Kong and the need for some concession here before we could expect the release of Crouch and Johnston led us naturally into a discussion of this tricky issue. John Morgan said that as we were not going to get Crouch and Johnston without releases in Hong Kong he very much hoped that the Governor would find it possible to make some releases and, if that were possible, he would need a few weeks' notice in order to present these decisions to the Chinese Chargé d'Affaires as the gesture for which the Chinese had asked.
4.
The Governor said without hesitation that he hoped it would be possible to make such releases and he did not mind bending the rules to do so.
5.
He also agreed with John Morgan's tactical proposals, i.e. that we in Hong Kong would arrange the releases in an entirely normal way with no publicity whilst John would sell them to the Chinese Chargé d'Affaires at the highest possible price. The actual releases would of course take place after John's talk with Ma, i.e. they would probably be in November.
6.
On Monday, 5 October I told Pickett, the Commissioner of Prisons, of this conversation. He said he would prefer to discuss it with John Morgan and me at Stanley Prison.
J.B. Denson, Esq., OBE, British Charge d'Affaires,
PEKING.
/contd...
CONFIDENTIAL
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