Mr Rushford

CONFIDENTIAL

Reference....

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DRAFT LETTER TO LORD GARDINER

1. We spoke. I attach my submission and a draft letter, I would be very grateful for comments as

soon as possible.

2.

The main problem is the question whether two practising members of the Hong Kong bar have in fact been appointed to the District Court bench. I have spoken to Mr Roberts. He says that this recommendation was, in fact, made before he left Hong Kong and expresses surprise that there is apparently no record of this with the Legal Advisers or the ODA. He has suggested the wording in ink in the second paragraph of the draft. He says we can be certain that this is correct. not very satisfactory since, if they have not been appointed, we should not really allude to the possi- bility. But the Governor's telegram does speak of the new appointments as if they were a decided thing, and I think that we do need to refer to them in order to answer Lord Gardiner.

It is

3. Mr Fifoot will not be back this week, but I think we should get the letter up for despatch before the weekend.

21 June 1973

ACSE

A C Stuart

Hong Kong & Indian Ocean Department

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CONFIDENTIAL

(17293) 897465 400m 1/73 G.W.B.Ltd. Gp.863

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