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Mr. Rushford
There have been recent developments on the subject of the appointment of a Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration in Hong, Kong.
2.
The matter has been the subject of correspondence with the Governor over a considerable period. In March, 1969, the Attorney-General, Hong Kong, sent us a draft Bill designed to cover such an appointment. This Bill was, however, in the nature of being a working document only; it was not intended for publication and the Attorney-General made it clear to us at the time that the preparation of the draft did not in any way imply that the Hong Kong Government had decided to make such an appointment. Both the Governor and a number of his unofficial advisers have
in fact expressed doubts about the need for or desirability of such an appointment in Hong Kong and the Governor recently took steps to strengthen the existing machinery in the Colony for enabling the people of Hong Kong to make known their views and grievances to the authorities. These steps consisted of the appointment (in June of this year) of an Administrative Secretary to the office of the Unofficial Members of the Executive and Legislative Councils. is at yet too early to say whether the new arrangement is working effectively.
It
3. When we received the draft Bill in March, 1969 we referred it to Mr. Sykes, Secretary to the Parlia- mentary Commissioner for Administration in this country, and in doing so we sent Nr. Sykes a note setting out the Hong Kong background against which the matter was being considered. Mr. Sykes replied making one comment on a point of detail which we passed on to Hong Kong. The matter was, however, pursued no further at the time since it has been the policy to wait until some experience has been gained of the efficacy of the strengthened machinery referred to in paragraph 2
above.
4. Our new Ministers are anxious to revive examin- ation of the proposal to appoint a Parliamentary Commissioner in Hong Kong and at the beginning of this month the Secretary of State sent a personal letter to the Governor (to which the Governor has not yet replied) in which he said that he would like to see a post of Ombudsman or similar office established
soon as possible. He went on to say that he was arranging for the Parliamentary Commissioner here to be further consulted on the proposal and that our considered views in the light of this consultation would be sent to the Governor as soon as possible. The Secretary of State added that he hoped that by the time of Mr. Royle's proposed visit to Hong Kong in October next, it would be possible to announce a decision on the subject of the appointment of an Ombudsman
5.
We have accordingly referred the matter once again to Ir. Sykes who has now let us have some
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