CONFIDENTIAL
ра
Mew 16/12
Appointments from Hong Kong Bar to the
Supreme Court Bench
Item No. 1
Sir James McPetrie said that, even where there was a
Service canditate suitable for promotion to the Supreme court Bench, it might occasionally be desirable to appoint someone from the Hong Kong Bar who had had extensive
experience of private practice.
course, be very exceptional.
Such appointments would, of
He did not think that a very
occasional appointment of this kind would be a legitimate
They could not be grievance to members of the Service. expected to like such an appointment, but he thought it would be more acceptable to them if made at a time when there were two or more vacancies to be filled and the other vacancy or
vacancies were filled by Service candidates.
Two vacancies
will arise in 1972 when both Sir Ivor Rigby and Mr. Blair Kerr
would be retiring.
2. The Governor said that he did not know why the Hong Kong
Bar Association had raised the issue at this time unless it
were that they were having a lean time.
There was no-one
from the Bar whom he personally thought suitable for
appointment at the moment.
In his opinion Mr. Oswald Cheung
was the best available. The Governor said that he was not
opposed in principle to a very occasional appointment from
the local Bar in the circumstances described by Sir James
McPetrie.
CONFIDENTIAL