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7. When Lord Shepherd visited Hong Kong in June, he discussed the
subject with the Governor and unofficial members of both Councils.
He accepted that there were difficulties in instituting such an office
and suggested that UMELCO might be strengthened by the appointment of
a high-powered Secretary. This idea was supported by the Governor and unofficials, The post has been advertised, with 15 November as
closing date for applications.
8. The Governor had sent us, without comment, a copy of the report by the local branch of Justice before we received the copy enclosed with Mr. Sargant's letter of 14 November. Subsequently, in his opening address to the Legislative Council on 1 October, he expressed
his disappointment that this report and other local views had made so little contrihution to resolving "basic doubts" about the suitability
of the Ombudsman concept for application in Hong Kong, and repeated
the theme of his February speech that existing channels should be
improved and evaluated before any further steps were taken. The "basic doubts" turn upon the status and position of such an office in the constitutional circumstances of Hong Kong; and whether, with all his legal powers, the circumscribed area in which under law an
Ombudsman can operate would make him any better or more effective
channel for the redress of grievances in Hong Kong than those which
already exist. While the report shows that some consideration has
been given to these issues, the conclusions are not closely argued;
and some of the recommendations are a little odd, e.g. on the powers of an Ombudsman (this section is barely comprehensible).
9. I do not consider that we need to "press" the report on the attention of the Governor, as requested. It will have been carefully
examined by his advisers. But it would be useful to have the
Governor's views on it on record here for possible future use and we
could ask for these to be provided in due course when forwarding
copies of this correspondence to him. I suggest that the reply need only state the measures now being taken in Hong Kong, with the Minister's approval, to improve existing channels of redress and point out that this does not mean a final decision has been taken
against the Ombudsman concept.
10.