(118281) Dd. 391599 1,500м 2/69 Aw.
¡G TO BE WRITTEN IN THIS MARGIN
Registry No.
PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL/STAFF IN CONFIDENCE
DRAFT Letter
Type 1 +
Draft 'B'
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION
Top Secret.
Secret.
Confidential.
Restricted.
Unclassified.
PRIVACY MARKING
In Confidence
Flag E
La concession
occasioned by some factor such
as
as opposition from
To:-
Governor,
Hong Kong.
}
From
Sir Leslie Mons on
Telephone No. & Ext.
Department
Tuhea
2673.
We see that the Bill for the Supreme Court (Amendment)
Ordinance 1970 (enclosure 4 to your despatch No. 157 of
4 February) made provision for a new post of Appeal Judge, a
development which Hogan last year informally mentioned to
McPetrie as a possibility. But the provision for this new post
and all consequential references to it have been omitted from
the Ordinance itself and the Attorney-General's report makes
no reference to this important change in the policy of the
published Bill. The Full Court (Amendment) Ordinance 1970,
enclosed with your despatch No. 158 of the same date, likewise
omits the references to the Judge of Appeal that are contained
[Take in slip]
in the Bill. We should be grateful to know whether these
differenees between the Bills and the Ordinances reflect a
of
on your part calculated change in Government /policy/or are the result of
adverse-votes by unofficial members in the Legislative Council and, if the latter is the case, whether you have plans to
reactivate the proposal for the new post.or indeed for the creation of a seperate
seperate Court of Appeal
2.
In your despatch CR. 1/1749/5311 of 5 February you
recommend that Scholes should be appointed to the post of
Senior Puisne Judge. You say that the only specific function
attaching to the post of Senior Puisne Judge is that the holder
This,
acts as Chief Justice when the Chief Justice is away.
however, is an important function and in our view therefore the
Senior Puisne Judge should be the person who (i) has sufficient
/seniority
$