TNAG-0899-FCO40-1109-Refugees-from-Vietnam-in-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-boat-people-1979 — Page 36

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I enclose a copy of a note prepared by Maurice Morgan of the Hong Kong Government Secretariat which records a meeting I had with the Governor and officials at the end of my visit.

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1919

I am now able to confirm, as I indicated in Hong Kong I hoped might be possible, that we could go well above the average of 500 a month between now and the end of the year. We expect to be able to take some thing over 1,400 in the months of November and December. We will go as high as we can, but it is not possible to reach an average of 1,000 a month with our present

resources.

Even if we were to incur additional capital expenditure in finding more reception accommodation, however, the immediate prob- lem seems to be to get sufficient refugees to accept the UK as their country of settlement. Although our selection team, who were in Hong Kong while I was there, had a good rate of take in the early part of their visit the numbers dwindled to a trickle towards the end. The immediate need therefore is to concentrate on getting more information disseminated through the camps about the United Kingdom in a way which would encourage refugees to come forward for selection.

I had identified this problem while I was in Hong Kong and sent a telegram asking whether coloured slides could be prepared suitable for showing in the camps. These are being prepared now and will be available in a matter of days for sending out to Hong Kong. I understand that the Hong Kong Government's representa- tives in London are advising on whether the proposal that Mr Bao, a former mayor of Saigon, settled in this country should go out to talk to people in the camps would be satisfactory. Another proposal put to me by the UNHCR representative in Hong Kong was that their film unit based in Geneva might make a film suitable for showing in the camps. I immediately said that we would be glad to offer our services by arranging introductions to voluntary organisations and local authorities and sent a telegram to London so that the Home Office would be prepared for any approach. Nothing much happened about this but I saw Mr de Haan, the Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees, on 19 November during his short visit to London and he said that he would take the matter up urgently. In fact I think that coloured slides are probably more practical for showing in the conditions in the camps.

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