TNAG-1329-FCO40-1756-Future-of-Hong-Kong-test-of-the-acceptability-of-the-Joint-D-1984 — Page 94

from the Master The Rt. Hon. Sir Patrick Nairne, G.C.B., M.C., M.A.

St. Catherine's College · Oxford

Oxford OX1 3UJ

ersonal and

in confidence

Richard Luce Esq MP

Minister of State

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Telephone (0865) 249541

16 August 1984

Foreign & Commonwealth Office

London SW1A 2AH

Dear Minister,

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At our meeting on Tuesday afternoon I promised to follow up my letter of 10 August and to confirm as I now do

that I am willing to serve as the UK member of the Monitoring Team in Hong Kong.

As I told you, since my earlier letter, I have been able to consult discreetly a few of the senior Fellows of the College who are still in Oxford; and I am now confident that the Governing Body of the College will be able to appoint a Pro-Master to replace me for the two months of the Michaelmas Term. It is an important and reassuring feature of the Hong Kong assignment that it is the firm intention of the Government to complete the consultative process in time for the terms of the agreement and the outcome of the consultation to be the subject of Parliamentary debates at the beginning of December. I have made clear to my colleagues here that so far as anybody can foresee at this stage, I shall be returning to Oxford then.

You referred, in your letter of 8 August, to financial terms; and Mr. Galsworthy mentioned them briefly on Tuesday. I am sure from what you and he have said, that they can be satisfactorily settled. I shall be most grateful if I can look to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Hong Kong authorities, as appro- priate, to make the travel, hotel, and office arrangements that I shall need.

It

I am grateful for the valuable preliminary briefing that I was able to have from Mr. Galsworthy, Sir Percy Cradock, and your- self. I hope that I may have the opportunity of seeing the Secretary of State and yourself before I go out to Hong Kong. was kind of you to speak in such encouraging terms of the personal role you have asked me to undertake though my heart rather sinks when I reflect on its unique character, and on my limited ex- perience of Hong Kong. I look forward to doing my best to make a success of the job.

yours sincerely, Patrick Marine

(Patrick Nairne)

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