Refer
Mr. Laird
Thank you for letting me see Sir L. Monson's letter to
Sir H. Norman-Walker.
The way is not, of course, yet clear
for Mr. O'Connor's appointment. In his despatch of
23 February the Governor recommends the appointment of
Mr. Leonard and Mr. O'Connor in succession to Mr. Williams
who has retired and Mr. Pickering whom the Governor recommended
on 5 February for promotion to Puisne Judge. We have not,
however, approved Mr. Pickering's promotion to succeed
Mr. Scholes since we have been unable to agree with the
Governor's proposal that Mr. Scholes should be appointed Senior
Puisne Judge and until that matter has been straightened out
there is only one vacancy for a District Judge. We could, I
suppose, approve the appointment to that vacancy of either
Mr. Leonard or Mr. O'Connor but it would probably be better to
defer action altogether until the Senior Puisne Judge issue
has been settled. I think it is time to press the Governor
for an answer to Sir Leslie Monson's letter of 20 March on
this issue. I have had experience before of the way in which
the Hong Kong authorities allow difficult personnel questions
to drift.
Copy to: Sir Leslie Monson
JCHOP.
(J.C. McPetrie)
22 April, 1970