NOTHING TO BE WRITTEN IN THIS MARGIN
W(B)L 51-7406
Confidential
noted and willbe taken into a ccount when
future appointments tothe Supreme Court Bench
x
are under consideration.
On the substance of the matter, it was
agreed when the Governor was here last autumn
that even where there was a Service candidate
suitable for promotion to the Supreme Court
Bench it might occasionally be desirable to
advance someone from the Hong Kong Bar who
had had extensive experience of private practice
Such appointments would of course be very
exceptional. The members of the Service
could not be expected to like such an appoint-
ment, but it was thought that 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 op vacancies were filled by
Service candidates. A suitable opportunity
for an appointment from the Bar will occur in
1972/73 because Rigby, Scholes, Blair-Kerr and
Mills-Owens will all have reached retirement
e
age within three years, and we suggest that
this possibility should be kept in mind.
On the question of pensions, unless special
provision was made in respect of Judges appoin-
ted from the local Bar the probability is that
they would reach retiring age before having
served sufficient length of time to qualify
for a pension. Also, the relevant factor
would have to be greater in their case than in
the case of a career officer, otherwise the
pension that would be received would be somewhat
derisory. But this does not mean that their
terms as regards pensions would be better than
S.]
the terms given to career officers.