LAST
REF.
REF.
香港總督府
SECRET
RACEVED IN
RESITY NO 51 MAY
9
GOVERNMENT HOUSE
MONG KONG
18th May 1977
30 JUN 1977
Copy:
Dall,
LAKK 062/21
BRUNEI BATTALION
PS Lord Garoney Roberts pur Contazy!
SEAD (+2) Mr. Stewart HKOD
My telegram No. 500 sent in reply to your Nos. 376 and 367 had to be initialled off after ten minutes scrutiny in order to meet your deadline which coincided with a morning out of Government House and a lunch party.
2.
While I do not dissent in any way from anything in it, if it had been a personal assessment it would have been put rather differently.
3.
My main concerns are:
a) that the Brigade of Gurkhas should feel itself part of the British army and not a Hong Kong constabulary. This is to ensure that the right type of officer will continue to enlist. The possibility of Brunei service is important to this as it is a non-Hong Kong tour on the Queen's service.
But in my
opinion it is even more important that a battalion should continue to serve alongside UK troops somewhere, e.g. the UK.
b) That the claustrophobic effect of service in Hong Kong, which obviously applies more to the Gurkhas than to UK troops, should be countered by training facilities outside Hong Kong. The most useful training ground at present is Brunei, and I suspect this would not be so easy if a Gurkha battalion was not stationed there, though other areas are used at greater expense.
D. Murray Esq., CMG
/over
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