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M: Šaminara
เรา
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L.
Hi
might
Re para 1. Stra. Mimson thright that M. Healey when Minister of Defence and foursing through have mentioned ₤12m annually. Is this prosible? As regards the origin of the figure of £60 million M
I
I have made a suggestion to Mr Wilford which is being pursued separately. I need not hold up the papers on that account.
Sir David Trench does however on this occasion seem to have carried to excessive lengths his view that the influence of the Governor depends upon the extent to which the people of Hong Kong see him as their champion particularly against HMG. This is a view that comes naturally to one brought up in the traditions of the old Colonial Service (especially as is the case with Sir David Trench, the formative years in that Service were spent among primitive and unsophisticated peoples). confess to some scepticism on the point but am certain that colonial peoples recognise that their immediate "rulers" are happiest to see themselves in this role and that the people gladly exploit this sentiment to their own best advantage. will be interesting to see with an increasing number of "rulers" drawn from a different background what new techniques the "people" will develop but they can be trusted to choose those which best serve their own interest.
3.
It
One other general point. The whole of this exercise has provided an agreeable contrast to what happened on the last occasion - the sending out of a Minister in circumstances calculated to attract the maximum publicity in Hong Kong and therefore to force both sides from the outset to strike attitudes
from which they could only extract themselves by the use of ambiguous and disingenuous formulae such as those which have bedevilled their successors in the present round.
We owe a debt to Sir David Trench for his original suggestion that this time we ought to negotiate "through normal channels".
4.
But this gives me also the opportunity wholeheartedly to endorse Mr Wilford's commendation of Mr Laird and Mr Gaminara who have carried the main burden of detailed negotiation in Whitehall and with the Hong Kong Government. We could not have brought this craft safely into harbour without the skill that Mr Laird has throughout displayed in steering it through
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