"Association that the statement in no way refutes the point made in Mr Rear's letter; it merely brings into prominence the inconsistency in Government's attitude on the Emergency Regulations that Mr Rear has attacked.
"Mr Rear's point seems simple enough: the Hongkong Government has at present totalitarian powers over the people of Hongkong in the form of Emergency Regulations and in particular Regulation 31 of the Emergency (Principal) Regulations which permits the Colonial Secretary to detain any person for a period of up to one year without trial, without expressing any reasons, without having any reasons, There is no requirement for the detainee to be given any reasons for his detention.
"At the expiration of one year the detention could be forthwith renewed. Government has, as we know, used these totalitarian powers so that to this day (nearly a year after the Emergency has ended) we are told that there are still some 40 or 50 persons under detention. As long as this state of affairs prevails in Hongkong it lies ill for the British Government to complain that British subjects in China have been detained .without trial.
"The powers which the Hongkong Government have at present over the liberty of the people of Hongkong are as absolute as have ever been devised in the history of democratic Government. The fact that the powers have, as we are informed, been used with dis- cretion does not make the exercise of such powers any more lawful which, as the Bax Committee understands it, is precisely the point made in Mr John Rear's letter.
"In taking issue with Mr Rear, Government states that while "detainees have never been publicly accused they have nevertheless all been accused and their cases were most carefully examined by law officers before Detention Orders were issued". The Bar Committee views with some alarm the fact that Government seems to think that bland assurances of this sort could be a substitute for the rule of law. The evil of the Emergency Regulations is that it leaves it to the benevolence of Government to observe the basic principles of the rule of law without making it a legal requirement.
"If it is indeed the intention of Government that detainees should be told what accusations have been made against them and should have their cases "most carefully examined by law officers", then it is not beyond the ingenuity of the Legal Department so to frame the Emergency Regulations that the basic rules of natural justice are required to be observed before Detention Orders become lawful.
"The very fact that the Regulations are not framed in this way tends to suggest that Government reserves to itself a complete discretion to act without legal restraint of any sort and the citizen is left with no better safeguard than the hope that the Colonial Secretary might exercise his powers benevolently.
"Government's statement, makes the further point that "detainees have all had a chance to appeal to an independent committee of review", It is not clear
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