34)
At the same time the Hong Kong Government are likely to accept modifications to the Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Bill and the Public Order (Amendment) Bill, designed to clarify the scope of these new laws.
I hope that you and your members will regard these developments as satisfactory.
At the same time I believe that
the members of your Hong Kong branch should bear in mind the real problems facing the Hong Kong Government, and should give what support they can to measures to speed up the administration of justice in the Colony, and to deal with the current wave of
violent crime. The Governor's professional advisers are practising lawyers with the same background as your members; so are the judges and magistrates.
The proposed legislation is
not intended to give the Hong Kong Government greater influence over the Judiciary, nor will it have this effect. The suggestion in Mr. Litton's letter to Mr. Sargant that the Government's
campaign against violent crime is an exercise to whittle down
judicial independence is of course very far from the truth. I believe that the Governor bears a heavy responsibility; and deserves the assistance and wise advice of the legal
profession.
he needs
Since writing the above I received on 25 June your further 34 letter of 21 June. It seems that the Secretary of your Hong Kong
Branch has not informed you of the major changes adopted by the
Hong Kong Government. So I hope that the changes which I have described do now meet your main objections, which, as you say, are centred on the possible defects in the Criminal Court system.
/in