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Foreign and Commonwealth Office London SW1
RG B Bridge Esq
Civil Service Branch Colonial Secretariat HONG KONG
Telephone 01-
Your reference
Our reference KKL 19
10KK19/2
Date 25 February 1974
☺
COMMISSIONER OF NARCOTICS
1.
In our telegram 161 of 12 February we said we had managed to obtain a background information on three possible candidates for the post of Commissioner of Narcotics when Norman Rolph retires. In reply to our rider about the possibility that all three might be ruled out on age grounds you replied, in your telegram 197 of 13 February, that, provided they were still fit and active, you would still like to have details. We do not of course know whether they would be interested in the post if they were to be approached.
2.
I enclose a copy of a letter from Chris Train, Head of the Home Office Drugs Department, which gives some useful information on the three possible candidates. Of the three, you may still wish to rule Tufnell out on the age count. He retired as Controller of Customs and Director of the Central Narcotics Intelligence Bureau, Singapore, in 1961. He then joined the Narcotics Control Commission in Iran. As you will note from his letter, Train expressed some doubts about his stamina. For the record I enclose a summary of his career and a copy of a final report from the Singaporean Government before his retirement.
3.
It is probably not necessary for me to go into too much detail about James Norman except perhaps to bring you up to date on his career since he retired as Commissioner of Prisons in Hong Kong in 1968. In 1969 he worked for a short time as an adviser on Criminology (Columbo Plan) to the Singapore Government. In 1971 he became an Adviser on Rehabilitation and Social Reintegration of Drug Addicts to the Government of Iran and held this post until October 1973. Since then he has applied, unsuccessfully, for a position with the ILO for a post in Thailand, as an expert in Vocational Rehabilitation of Drug Addicts. For ease of reference I enclose a copy of an annual confidential report on Norman dated 1965; this was the last report on which there were comments on his abilities by the Governor. There is no mention on the files of any 'social problems paragraph 2 of your letter of 4 November.
14.