TNAG-0445-FCO40-510-Discussions-with-Sir-Murray-MacLehose--Governor-of-Hong-Kong-1974 — Page 22

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4.2

In answer to a question from Lord Goronwy-

Roberts, Sir M MacLehose said that Hong Kong's trade

unions had predominantly political origins and affiliations. They fell into two groups and

principally existed in order to further the influence

of Peking and Taipei. He expected the trade unions to

exert some pressure for higher wages, but they were

currently not pressing very strongly for improvements

in labour conditions or hours of work.

5.

5.1

Death Penalty

Lord Goronwy-Roberts said there seemed to be

an irreconcilable conflict between public opinion in

Hong Kong and the situation in the UK. He did not

think it would be possible for Ministers of either

party in the UK to allow another execution in Hong Kong

returning to He saw no prospect of revising the Creech Jones formula,

which left the decision in the Governor's hands. He

recognised the problems that this would cause for the

Governor and for good government in Hong Kong. He

wondered whether there was anything which British

Ministers could do, short of agreeing to a revival of

the death penalty, to tighten up penal sanctions in

Hong Kong, in a way that would help the fight against crime and maintain public confidence.by blunting the

demand for the death penalty

edge of the

5.2

пориват

He

Sir M MacLehose acknowledged the force of

Lord Goronwy-Roberts's political judgement on this

issue. There was no doubt that public opinion in

Hong Kong overwhelmingly supported the death sentence

in extreme cases, and he was bound to advise that the Creech Jones formula was the right policy for Hong Kong.

Nevertheless, he had already warned ExCo that in

present circumstances no UK Secretary of State would

be likely to permit an execution in Hong Kong.

would, however, need to ask Mr Callaghan on 24 June

for an explicit statement on whether the Creech Jones

formula could be revived. ExCo had agreed that it

would be better to avoid a confrontation with the UK,

and themselves to advise reprieves. But this under-

standing rested on ExCo's trust in his own unsupported judgement of the situation in the UK. It might not

/anyway

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