CONNADEN AANVAN
Foreign and Commonwealth Office London SW1
HKIUD for entry
and
p.a.
4
Telephone 01-
The Honourable Mr Justice G G Briggs
Chief Justice's Chambers
Courts of Justice
HONG KONG
Your reference
Our reference
HKK 14/12
Date
13 November 1973
My dear Geoffrey
Many thanks for your letter of 7 November, which I read with
interest.
If I may say so, it seems to me you are very wise not to be drawn into public debate over the criticisms of the judicial set-up in Hong Kong which the Bar Association have seen fit to express. It will be interesting to see if they get some pundit out from England in furtherance of their campaign.
My suggestion about security of tenure for contract magistrates was a very tentative one. Presumably permanent and pensionable magistrates (and District Judges for that matter) are subject to Colonial Regulations 54 to 66 and obviously contract magistrates should not have greater security than permanent and pensionable ones. I can also see that it is difficult to give an expatriate security of tenure for an indefinite period if he wishes to serve in the territory only for three years, but one could I suppose give him the same security as a permanent and pensionable magistrate during the full term of the contract. (I should add that I have not looked at any existing contracts but if you would like me to do so, I expect I could obtain a specimen from the Crown Agents).
I have received your letter reference A/6/3/4 of 5 November and will reply as soon as I have been able to consider the matter.
LAST
REF
(32)
N
REF.
Yous
Antmy
snr
R & R to &R
та Стоиней
with ra Muthbard's earlies
га
letter of 31 October (deegson.)
остовет
Pril
1614
29
CONFIDENTI AL
A R Rushford
Deputy Legal Adviser
!