CONFIDENTIAL
1.
Ombudsman for Hong Kong
The Hong Kong Government have fur several years been
considering the possibility of establishing a post of Ombudsman or similar office. They even reached the stage of preparing
a draft Bill for the purpose which they sent to us some time
ago for our comments. But in so doing they emphasised that
the Bill was only a working document; that it was not intended for publication and should not be taken as any indication of
a decision to create such a post.
2.
There is a body of opinion in Hong Kong including
the local branch of Justice (International Commission of
Jurists) which favours the appointment of an Ombudsman and the matter has been the subject of press comment in the Colony
It has also been the
during the past three or four years.
subject of occasional Parliamentary interest here.
3.
It is, however, evident that among Unofficial Members
of both the Executive and Legislative Councils there is a
substantial body of opinion which doubts whether an Ombudsman is necessary or whether such an appointment could make for any improvement in the facilities already available in that
field. These doubts are now shared by the Governor who
considers that steps should first be taken to strengthen
the machinery which already exists for enabling members of
the public to bring their grievances to the notice of the
authorities. One such step was recently taken with the
appointment of a senior officer in the Administrative Service (Mr. R.W. Primrose) as full time Administrative Secretary to
the Office of the Unofficial Members of the Executive and
Legislative Councils (UMELCO).
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CONFIDENTIAL