Flag
५०
X.9) and (43 OW HWB 16/6.
Part B. Flag hold and 77) on above,
file.
Once the Board of Trade's clearance has been obtained, it will be necessary to put the matter to Ministers and, having regard to the forthcoming General Election, further delay seems inevitable before we can reach a conclusion.
5. Apart from the Government of Hong Kong itself, the two protagonists in this issue are Rediffusion (Hong Kong) Limited and Television Broadcasts Limited. The former has made repeated approaches on the subject, both at ministerial and at official levels. These approaches are flagged on the attached files in the series X(1)-X(11). The latter have also made representations, but have addressed these to the Hong Kong Government. They have not as yet made any attempt to approach the Department.
6.
*
Having regard to the various replies sent to certain of Rediffusion (Hong Kong) Limited's representations, that Company have reasonable grounds for believing that they will hear further from us, either by way of written com- munication or by way of discussion. For example, in March, 1968, Mr Wells, QC., MP (who represented the Company in the recent appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council) (see paragraph 14 of the draft) was told that the then Commonwealth Secretary 'would be sending a substantive reply to a letter which he wrote to the Commonwealth Sec- retary at that time. Again, in August, 1968, Lord Shepherd informed Lord Tangley (a Director of the Company) in response to a request for an interview that he doubted whether any useful purpose would be served by his seeing representatives of the Company at that stage: "though there may be some advantage in my meeting them at a later date."
Final
I think, therefore, that before Ministers reach any final conclusion in the matter it might be advisable to offer the Company an opportunity to discuss the matter, if only to show them that no conclusion is being reached without giving them the chance to present their case in person, if they so desire.
8. There are one or two side issues which remain to be dealt with, but these need not affect the submission it- self, and we are already in communication with the Board of Trade and with the Governor with a view to resolving them.
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You will note that, although the recommendation in paragraph 5 of the draft submission proposes that we should address the Governor in the terms of ta? draft despatch attached to the submission, no such draft has yet been prepared. This is because I think it would be advisable to have the suggested Departmental discussion first, so that we can agree on the line to be taken in the draft despatch. I accordingly suggest that the next step in this exercise is to have that Departmental discussion. attach at front cover a spare copy of the draft submission and a further copy is available if required.
怔
(A. W. Gaminara)
4 June, 1970.
I
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