TNAG-0525-FCO40-620-Visit-of-UK-Members-of-Parliament-(Defence-and-External-Affa-1975 — Page 11

more a free-for-all, where they expressed themselves rather more strongly

then hithorbo. The negotiations were very much yself, Ir Indou and ovn

teen speaking to the Governor, the Financial Secretory and their team,

On your second question, yes, this of course is a denger. Perhaps I con

go back. The Chiefs of Steff

reviewed the garrison extrenely

carefully and came down in two stages, I think I an night in saying, to the

garrison of the kind that has now been agreed. These stages were discussed

with CBF on the spot end with the Governor, and we came down to what the

Chiefs believed was the minimum guarantee for the security of Hong Kong

within the constraints we all understand. Once an agreement is reached and

announced, and passions, if there are passions, have subsided, my guess is

that it will stick without much trouble, and the only need thereafter vill

be to make sure that the support costs are kept to the minimum and are

reviewed from time to time.

Q. What we did discover, which we did not realise before, was the enormous

reliance by the police on the Army for internal security. We saw the

Gurkha battalions there and we did feel that they relied on the battalion

It could be got there quickly. This was on

This was put to us fairly strongly. If Brunei is

in Brunei as a reserve.

intemal security.

civing up I do not know what the situation is. It was said this may affect

the recruiting of young officers to the Gulhas because there are not so

many places they can visit. On the last day the General did refer to the

reserve in Brunei and we thought he was placing a big reliance on that

battalion. It is said you could send a battalion from this country but

it would be more difficult as the Transport Command gets less responsibility

for Hong Kong. Would you like to comment on that? A. Hy impression

was that imortance was attached in Hong Kong to the presence of the battalion

in Brunei. Your general observation is true. It is not only true of the

Gurihas that as the opportunity of serving in different end remote parts

of the world recedes there are problers in making the covices sufficiently

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