PERSONAL & CONFIDENTIAL
His Excellency the Governor, Government House, HONG KONG.
8th May, 1974.
36
Thank you very much for letting me see the letter of Sir Duncan Watson to you dated the 18th April, 1974, with its annexures.
I must confess that I thought that we had heard the last of the complaints made by certain members of the Hong Kong Bar to Lord Gardiner. After the mis-informed Berlins article in The Times was published on the 9th January, 1974, the Chairman of the Bar Association sent a letter to The Times refuting some of the allegations contained in that article. The Times never published that letter. In case you have not seen it, I enclose a copy.
The most damaging statement made both I think to Lord Gardiner and in the Berlins article vas that there was, in Hong Kong, a marked lack of confidence in the ability of the Judiciary and of the legal administration. Indeed, that there was a danger of the public losing confidence in the courts.
I have seen no evidence of this at all. Our case load of civil work has shown a steady increase both in the District Court and in the Supreme Court during the last twelve months. I think that this shows that the public has confidence in the way that justice is being administered here.
I should like to comment on the points made by Sir Vincent Evans in the annexure to Sir Duncan Watson's letter.
1. The Appeal Court: This proposal is vell under way and a Bill is now in the process of being drafted.
2. Trial by Jury: Jury service is very unpopular
The in Hong Kong both with the Chinese and with expatriates. Jury List contains some 30,000 names. Many jurors come from countries where the system of law is not based upon the common law and there are many Japanese names on the List. Trial by jury is supposed to be trial by one's peers. should have thought that persons brought up under a system of law other than that of the common law would have particular difficulty in understanding court proceedings.
I
Cont'd