CONFIDENTIAL
bearing on the eligibility of officers for compensation. The actuarial factors used to calculate the compensation payments assume that officers will retire with immediate payment of pension. The 1954 and 1960 White Papers provide that HMOCS officers who are prepared to work to the end of British sovereignty are entitled to both the right to retire with pension and compensation. In Hong Kong compensation would only be payable to officers whose normal retirement date would
fall after 30 June 1997.
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The
10. Chris Patten and I have discussed all this since you and I met. We are both concerned that the agreed package should strike the right balance between the interests of the British staxpayer and those of Hong Kong and the officers concerned.
We cannot afford to put forward another proposal which HMOCS officers can reject with justification and with the prospect of securing Parliamentary backing for their position. Governor's willingness to consider offering the right to retirement offers the prospect of a substantial reduction in the contingent liability for HMG. I therefore hope that we can settle quickly on a safeguard rate of 16:1 and the Option C compensation scheme, which forms a fair package which we can press hard on the HMOCS Association.
29:
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
18 November 1992
DH.
(DOUGLAS HURD)
CONFIDENTIAL
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