3.
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vigorous Chief Justice who is, as his letter to me shows, moving in precisely the direction which Vincent Evans wants. If I call for an outside panel it will be taken locally as a vote of no confidence in him.
5.
The proposal seems to be based on an assumption that the administration of justice in Hong Kong commands no public confidence and this I believe to be untrue. The only lack of confidence I have detected is over the severity of sentences, particularly those handed down to violent criminals, which the public believe to be inadequate. Apart from this the only major complaint about the administration of justice in Hong Kong is that the death sentence is not used, and this of course is nothing to do with the courts. So I think that the idea of an investigation is falsely based and would be very unfair to Briggs. It could also undermine the present standing of the courts by making them the subject of press controversy. If changes are to be made they should be made quietly but progressively as Briggs is doing; to act otherwise would in my view be most imprudent.
6.
I am genuinely perplexed about why you seem to assume that something is seriously wrong, but then I know the people who wrote to Lord Gardiner and you do not.
7.
Speaking personally I think the most serious deficiency in the administration of justice in Hong Kong is that it is largely conducted in the English language which is very bewildering to the bulk of the public brought in contact with the courts. However, as you know, we went into all this in great detail in connection with studies on the use of the Chinese language in the administration and concluded that it just was not compatible with English law. However I do think it most important to try and achieve a larger number of magistrates who are Cantonese speaking. The difficulty here is the relatively small number of local lawyers in the public service and the under-manning of the legal profession in Hong Kong. The enormous fees that private practitioners obtain attract all legal talent away from the Bench.
8.
I hope that you will agree from the foregoing that all we are doing or are willing to do makes
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