TNAG-0964-FCO40-1183-Air-services-between-the-UK-and-Hong-Kong-1980 — Page 159

律學院

Professor Dafydd M.E. Evans, LL.B. (Wales), B.C.L. (Oxon.)

Dean of the School of Law

Professor P.G. Willoughby, LL.B., LL.M. (London), Solicitor,

Director of Professional Legal Education

Telephone 5-468161

Rt. Hon. Sir Ian Gilmour, PC, MP,

House of Commons,

Westminster,

London SW1,

United Kingdom.

Lear sin

sin Tha

K

SCHOOL OF LAW

University of Hong Kong,

HONG KONG.

March 26th, 1980

H.K. & G. Sept, for oth reply PS/4ls from LPS Alcam

PSYLPs

4. MAGD

Miss Brown

протитан

I hope that I can address this letter to you as "my" MP. I have owned and periodically lived in a house at 16 St. Nicholas Close, Little Chalfont for over ten years and this is within your constituency. Those of us whose employment lies abroad in a colony such as Hong Kong have not formal rep- resentation within the Parliamentary system of the mother country yet we would nevertheless hope that, as British subject, we would have some avenue of resort when we feel we must make a grievance known.

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I and many of my colleagues were appalled to read a few days ago that the Civil Aviation Authority had chosen to ignore the Hong Kong recommendation regarding rights on the air route between Hong Kong and London. The decision in Hong Kong seemed most reasonable to allow two private enterprise car- riers to seek out the market for the possibly different services which they would offer to meet the very heavy needs of the travelling public on this route. Cathay Pacific Airlines is a Hong Kong airline in all the substantial sense of the word despite some technicalities as to registration and it was the declared wish of Hong Kong expressed through many channels that Cathay Pacific be permitted to fly to London.

C

It seems to us in this Crown Colony that the decision could only be political since the technical reasons did not seem to meet the situation. We were look- ing forward confidently to a Hong Kong-based airline which would provide the sort of service which we need in our frequent journeying to London. Instead, we have an airline which apparently is looking at the route as from London to Hong Kong. That the airline will generate revenue for a weak economy appears to us to be not unconnected with the decision.

In short, many of us feel that the decision to permit only British Caledonian in addition to British Airways is a blatant imposition of a colonial nature on the people of Hong Kong which totally overrides the expressed wishes of which the CAA was well aware. We are giving our total support to Cathay Pacific in their appeal against this act of petty colonialism.

Please forgive the force of my language. We feel very angry that Hong Kong should be treated in such a cynical way.

Yours sincerely,

DECLECE

Lans

Professor D.M.E. Evans

M

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