Mr.
Carter
Reference..
HKK 14/14
(36
9 agree
Isar
1919
I submit a revised draft letter to the Governor of Hong Kong. As you will see, the proposal in the draft is that an
appointment to the Supreme Court Bench from the Hong Kong Bar would be considered only in two situations, viz.
(a) where there was no service candidate good
enough to fill the vacancy; or
(b) where, though there was a service candidate
fit to be appointed, it was desired to add
to the Bench someone with more extensive
experience of private practice than is possessed by the average member of the Judicial or Legal Service.
I should be grateful if you would consider whether this is acceptable from your point of view. If we were contemplating a deliberate policy of appointing persons to the Supreme Court Bench from the Bar simply because they are local people (though some expatriate members of the Hong Kong Bar are only "local" in a rather temporary sense) we should have to consider whether this would entail the introduction of a limited compensation scheme of the kind that has been introduced in other territories
contemporaneously with the adoption of a policy of localisation.
2. If the Governor agreed with what is proposed in the draft, there would seem no need to say anything to the Bar Association. They have already had their reply on this point see Lord Shepherd's letter of 23 June at (28) on this file.
MS/2 Mr. Wilford
JCHOP
(J.C. McPetrie)
18 September, 1969
With respect.
S
agree throughout
with Sur. I. Me Petrie 's alternative draft:
شاتل
a much better presentation.
6.5. Canter
19/9169