COONFIDENTIAL
(b)
If and when an appointment from the Bar is being made the Chief Justice might have a private word with the judiciary and the Attorney-General with members of the legal staff if it were thought desirable to reassure the Service. Exactly what they would say could be decided if and when the occasion arèse but generally it seems to us that it could be to the effect that (1) the new appointment had been made because it was considered that it was the right appointment in the circumstances of the case but (ii) it was still the policy that appointments to the Supreme Court Bench should, save in exceptional cases, be by promotion from within the Service.
a O Laird