TNAG-0382-FCO40-428-Sterling-assets-and-balance-of-payments-of-Hong-Kong-1974 — Page 144

SECRET

Foreign and Commonwealth Office London SW1

W L St Clair Esq

HM Treasury

Deen Bill

C

Telephone 01-

Your reference

Our reference MF 9/393/1

Date

28 November 1973

228

STERLING GUARANTEE: HONG KONG

1. Please refer to your letter of 28 November to Stone.

2.

We have various amendments to suggest to your draft. For convenience I have had them typed up afresh. As you will see many of them are draftychanges to make the language more watertight legally. The only point of substance is concerned with what we should say about presentation; and arises in the last paragraph of the main draft telegram, and in the last sentence of the message to Haddon-Cave. We consider that there should be no public disclosure of the reason for Hong Kong's MSP being 78% rather than 80%. It would also be useful if Haddon-Cave could as far as possible play down the point when speaking to EXCO. We have amended the drafts accordingly.

3. You will see that the numbering of the paragraphs of the main draft telegram has also been changed; this is because what was paragraph 1 in your draft will appear in the preamble to the telegram when it issues and not in the text itself.

cc;

Mr Holland

Mr Stuart (HKTOR)

Mr Au st (Legal Advisers) Mr Stone (Bank of England) Mr Barber Bank of England)

Чита

lam

D I Lewty

Financial Relations Department

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