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shall need to put forward an application when the first fiche, if they contain records more than 30 years old, are due to arrive.
5.
Applications to the Lord Chancellor for extended closure under the terms of section 5(1) are put to him under the PRO references with justification for each item. This is clearly not the way forward for the moment, but we or rather our successors might have to contemplate using the section if the microfiche were no longer required for administrative purposes or were at risk from poor storage etc.
6.
However, the Public Record Office will not accept records with a continuing high security classification. They consider that it is the responsibility of departments, not the PRO, to protect classified material; indeed section 3(4) was drafted to deal with this difficulty.
Public Access to the microfiche
7. We do seem to be slightly at cross-purposes here. We had thought it was clear that all decisions on the date of public access to the microfiche or any section of them must be made by the Hong Kong Government before they are sent to London. No other arrangement is acceptable either in principle or in practice. It is not the business of the FCO, nor is it equipped, to second guess decisions made in Hong Kong on the basis of the detailed guidance that we have seen, nor would it be proper for us so to do.
8. A couple of other points. The Public Records Acts are concerned with custody not ownership, and it is my understanding that other agencies have already made arrangements for their records.
You will want to mull all this over and, hopefully, you, Duncan and I can get round a table to discuss anything that is unclear when you are in London later in the year.
9.
cc: Mr Chalmers
PRO
Mr Footman
HKD
Your
Pai
e vi v
Miss Patricia M Barnes
Library and Records Department
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