TNAG-0422-FCO40-468-Construction-of-an-underground-railway-system-in-Hong-Kong-1973 — Page 187

(260) Bow

Flag

(25W)BON

Flag B

Sir Suncan Nation

Mr Wilford

Sir D Watson

PS Mr Hoyle

仙

16

CONFIDENTIAL

The Wilf

Mw Sitiart

not

устаре

Tagree

yet aprind BU19/2/73

enfare it at the

* Exco peper is submitted

سكلا

fis D. watin's

it writed

Muity.

A.R.

HONG KONG MASS TRANSIT SYSTEM

Па

Mr Goodfella P'ze noti

1. In his letter of 28 December, Sir Murray MacLehose

confirms that the position on the UK consortium's bid is

as we believed it to be.

especially

Presumably this

2. He has, however, somewhat misinterpreted the purpose

of Sir D Watson's letter of 14 December.

*/

вед

esibli

was because, bearing in mind his other responsibilities,

we could not be too explicit about our possible political

interest in co-operation with the Japanese or the Europeans

if our exclusive bid fails. It remains true that we know

very little about the political thinking behind the other

bids.

3. I think it is still worth trying to get this point

clear. I submit a draft letter from Sir D Watson accordingly.

4. In his minute on the Governor's letter Mr Royle asked

whether we should set up a meeting with Mr Kindersley of

Lazards. I am inclined to doubt whether this would help

very much at this stage. Lazards are wholly concerned with

the UK bid, which the Governor has assured us is very much

alive. They would be unlikely to be able to help us to

assess the underlying position of the Hong Kong Government

or of the other bidders.

/5.

CONFIDENTIAL