Registry No. HKK 1/8
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION
Top Secret.
Secret.
Confidential.
Restricted.
Unclassified.
PRIVACY MARKING
DRAFT letter
To:-
T. Sargant, Esq., OBE, JP, Secretary,
British Section of the
International Commission
of Jurists,
12 Crane Court, Fleet Street,
In Confidence London, E.C.4.
Copy, with copy of letter under reply, to Acting Governor, Hong Kong, under
compliment slip. Flag A Copy to PIOD.
Diddel
impertine
Flag H.
in
Type 1 +
From
Lord Shepherd
Telephone No. & Ext.
Department
I am sorry that my absence abroad and the volume
of work awaiting me on my return have prevented me from sending you an earlier reply to your letter of 20
October about the feasibility of appointing an Ombudsman
in Hong Kong. The report enclosed with your letter had,
in fact, been brought to my notice by the Governor and I
have studied it with interest. I have also received your
letter of 14 November on the same subject.
As regards your earlier letter, During my visit to
the Colony in June I had very thorough discussions both.
with the Governor and with his unofficial advisers
about the possibility of creating a post of Ombudsman.
In the course of those discussions it became apparent
that there would be certain inherent difficulties in
setting up such a post in Hong Kong Doubts were also
expressed about the extent to which such an appointment
would be effective. It was the general view of those
and with whom I discussed the matter (a view which I shared)
that steps should first be taken to strengthen the
machinery which already exists for enabling the people
of Hong Kong to make known their views and grievances
to the authorities. To this end it was decided to
appoint a high-powered full-time Secretary to the Office
of the Unofficial Members of the Executive and
Legislative Councils; and I am informed that
(118281) Dd. 391599 1,500M 2/69 Hw.
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/applications