Reference
(168)
Les 27/12.
Mr Chewley
TALKS WITH HONG KONG
Mr
1. As you know I shall be on leave next week. Hale also will be on leave. We have therefore agreed that he should ask somebody in his Department to send a telegram to Hong Kong on 29 December if by then we have not heard formally from the Governor when the Hong Kong representatives are proposing to arrive. Commodities Department may get in touch with you about this.
2. As far as I know the letter from Mr Royle to Sir John Eden went off yesterday (with some amendment about the position of Hong Kong compared with the position of Lancashire) We shall have to look at the results of the DTI's analysis of the situation during the week beginning 3 January. The point is of course that if we have to say no to Hong Kong we must be able to justify our decision to the satisfaction of the Hong Kong team who, in turn, and with the assistance of Sir Murray MacLehose will have to "sell" our decision to the Unofficial Members of Executive Council and the Textiles Advisory Board.
3.
We might have a word about the arrangements generally for the talks at some convenient time before the end of this week.
21 December 1971
En.
E O Laird
DD 896639 140609 500M 7/71 GM 3643/2
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.