L.
HOME OFFICE
QUEEN ANNE'S GATE LONDON SW1H 9AT
18 October 1979
DF Murray Esq CMG
Foreign & Commonwealth Office London SW1A 2AH
Ian Jinald
The Governor of Hong Kong has sent me a message to say that Monday, October 29th is a Public Holiday and asking whether I would prefer to revise my arrival date there.
I have decided to leave as I had planned on Friday, 26th October and to stop off for some 36 hours in Colombo. I have a reservation for flight UL 65 leaving Gatwick at 1415 on Friday, 26th October and arriving at Colombo 0840 on Saturday, 27th October. I have arranged to leave Colombo on flight BA 37 departing at 0025 on Monday, 29th October, arriving in Hong Kong at 0825.
I. have given Mr Webb at your Hong Kong desk my revised time of arrival at Hong Kong and he will pass this on to the Governor.
It will, of course, be the week-end when I am in Colombo and I would not want to impose on the High Commissioner or any of his staff, but, on the other hand, if they would like the Lis a lake opportunity of a talk while I am there I would be more than happy
to have it. As this/change of plan, following from the Governor's realisation that the Monday is a Public Holiday in Hong Kong, it would be helpful if you could ask the High Commission to book me a hotel room for the night of Saturday, 27th October. If the High Commissioner wanted me to stay with him or any of his staff would like to put me up I should of course be delighted, but I would be perfectly content in a hotel.
Perhaps a message could be sent to the High Commissioner, if you agree, on the lines of the attached draft.
As to Australia, I put myself very much in your hands about the extent to which we should seek to involve the High Commission in my talks with Engledow and others. The information which Harry Dudgeon sent you about the topics which Engledow wants to cover is helpful, especially as I have had only the flimsiest outline of a programme from Canberra. I was not, however, intend- ing to furnish myself with a formal set of briefs and I am reìuc- tant to put the departments here to the trouble of preparing them for the purpose of transmitting them to Canberra. On the other hand, I would not want the High Commission there to feel that they were being left out. Perhaps we could have a word about
/this
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