(118281) Dd. 391599 1,500M 2/69 Hw.
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Registry No.
PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL/STAFF IN CONFIDENCE
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION
Top Secret.
Secret.
Confidential.
Restricted.
Unclassified.
PRIVACY MARKING
DRAFT Letter
To:-
Governor,
Hong Kong.
In Confidence
Type 1 +
From
DRAFT 'A'
Sit Monon
Telephone No. & Ext.
Department
Taywed 13
Flag A
Flag E
(This
This phorse
Seems Alrose
mi
In your letter to me of 10 October proposing Rigby for
Chief Justice you said that you had plans for creating a new
post of Appeal Judge in the near future for which you would
recommend Blair-Kerr and you discussed this with us in November.
Comparing the Ordinances submitted under cover of your despatches
Nos. 157 and 158 of 4 February with their resepetive Bills, it [take in slip]
ur plans have come unstuck and we should very
ms to us that
much like to know what happened.
2.
Blair-Kerr's possible appointment as Appeal Judge clearly
has a bearing on the question of filling the post of Senior Puisne
Judge for which, in your despatch No. CR. 1/1749/53 II of
5 February, you recommend Scholes. However much of a sinecure the
post may be in other respects, the fact remains that the holder is
expected to act as Chief Justice at least once a year when the
Chief Justice is on leave and perhaps oftener if the Chief
THIS Justice is absent for other reasons or incapacitated that-if
15
Gn
important function.
the Chief Justice is' absent from a sitting of the full court the
Senior Puisne Judge presides in his place; and that in general
the tenure of this special post puts its occupant in a position
can
to be a more influential member of the judiciary than would I co not see how wello-bike than
otherwise be the case. We shall therefore have to advise
L
Ministers that, if a further appointment to the post of Senior ·
Puisne Judge is to be made, the main criterion should be capacity
and not seniority and I do not think that Ministers would be
pdisposed to accept advice in any other/sense.
On this basis
/Scholes