TNAG-0695-FCO40-845-Policy-on-salaries-for-civil-service-in-Hong-Kong-1977 — Page 238

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REDVEDAN REGIORY

17 AUG1977

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Mr Murray

PS/Lord Goronwy-Roberts

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HONG KONG: LETTER FROM THE HONG KONG GOVERNMENT SHORTHAND-AUDIO TYPISTS ASSOCIATION

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1. Mrs Matilda Cheung, Chairman of the Hong Kong Government Shorthand-Audio Typists Association, wrote to Mr Luard on

Mr Luard

30 July about a dispute between her Association and the Hong Kong Government over conditions of employment. passed on Mrs Cheung's letter to Lord Goronwy-Roberts on 8 August and suggested that it might be simpler if the Minister of State were to reply.

2.

The department does not know any more about the dispute between the Shorthand-Audio Typists Association and the Hong Kong Government than is contained in Mrs Cheung's letter and in recent reports in the Hong Kong press. We are asking the Hong Kong Government for the background to the dispute and for their side of the story. Apart from a general request for Mr Luard's support in the dispute, it seems to me that Mrs Cheung's letter boils down to a request for advice about how a delegation from her Association should set about presenting Her Majesty The Queen with a petition concerning the dispute.

3. The correct procedure for a petition to Her Majesty The Queen (or the Secretary of State) from persons living in a dependent territory is for it to be forwarded, unsealed, to the Governor of the territory for onward transmission to the Office and, if appropriate, to Buckingham Palace thereafter. The Governor's advice on the substance of the petition is sought before action proceeds. It is such information that Mrs Cheung appears to want. If so, I suggest that it is not There have necessary for a Minister to reply to her letter.

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