experience and the opportunity to maintain (or improve upon) linguistic proficiency despite the problem of
dialects.] We should be glad to have your views and
suggestions on these ideas for the posting of Diplomatic Service officers.
3. Equally, we would like to know your views about the posting of Hong Kong officers in the FCO. I
should say at the outset that we consider there are
very good reasons for maintaining the rule established in the Colonial Office "beachcomber" arrangements whereby a Colonial Service officer was not posted to
the department handling the affairs of the territory from which he came. This rule did not, of course, preclude an officer from serving in other "geographical' departments or in one of the functional departments
where he might be concerned in handling a particular aspect of his Colony's affairs for which the
functional department carried responsibility.
you refamed the benefr our exchanges up to now, I do not think you have indieated what benefit you would expeet your own
officers derive from secondment to the FCO but
it seems to us that they might, for example, derive
from a posting to one of the functional departments
useful wider experience in a specialised field which could be applied in the Colony's interests on return to Hong Kong. L
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4. Of course, when it comes to considering actual postings, both of us will be very much circumscribed in the choice that we can offer by the whereabouts of vacancies and a host of other considerations that make the ideal placement of staff so difficult and time
consuming a task. And there can obviously be no guarantee that we shall be able entirely to meet each
other's wishes. But if we both have a fair idea of
what the other hopes to get out of these exchanges it might be possible to look ahead and earmark certain anticipated vacancies as being particularly suitable for filling on an exchange basis.
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There is perhaps another possibility. Are might be able to arrange postings to cestami Home departiment's
you wished: We are usually expected to provide a
certain number of replacement's for staff
seconded from Home departments for servfie as attaches.
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