W(B)L 51-74 33
NOTHING TO BE WRITTEN IN THIS MARGIN
Registry No.HKK 14/14
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION
Top Secret.
Secret.
Confidential.
Restricted. Unclassified.
PRIVACY MARKING
In Confidence
DRAFT
To:-
Letter
Sir Michael Hogan, C.M.G.
Chief Justice's Chambers, Courts of Justice, Hong Kong.
Type 1 +
From
$3
Sir James McPetrie
Telephone No. & Ext.
01 930 8440 Ext. 332
Department
have
on
бекаси apporated
весел
Thank you for your letter of 26 June in which you
raise the question of what reply should be returned to
the representations of 25 February addressed to the
Registrar by eighteen Magistrates.
I have discussed your letter with the Hong Kong
Department.
We agree that you should reply to the
Magistrates on the general lines you suggest but with
the following qualifications
Your (a). To base your refusal on the ground that
judicial and legal officers belong to "a unified
service" could provoke inconclusive discussion as to the
correctness of this statement. We suggest that the
answer should be rephrased as follows: "Opportunities
Conture to be spen for appointment to judicial office must remain/to all
those within the service who are considered suitable and
no undertaking can be given that the appointment of a
member of the Legal Department to a judicial office will
be matched by a reciprocal appointment of a member of the
judiciary to an office at equivalent level in the Legal
Department."
Your (b). We do not think that the addition
suggested by you is advisable. If, however, you wish to
introduce the thought that an appointment from the local
Barwould be exceptional, we would not object to your
rephrasing the first half of (b) to read: "There are precedents for appointing a Members of the practising Bar
in a dependent territory, to the Bench and it seems
unlikely etc." I do not in any case care for the
/opening