HONG KONG BAR
BAR ASSOCIATION.
CHAIRMAN:
A ZIMMERM. Q. C.
SECRETARY:
ARJAN H. SAKHRANI.......
Sir,
SECRETARIAT:
1208 MARINA HOUSE
HENG KV
Kan-
11th February, 1974
ei int
The Bar Committee of Hong Kong has discussed the article of your Legal Correspondent
Insofar as the - published on the 9th January. article purports to impute blame on the British Government for allowing conditions concerning the legal system in Hong Kong to deteriorate, the Bar Committee refutes the conditions alleged and in its view any such allegation is fanciful.
The assertion that many practising lawyers in Hong Kong believe that the adminis- tration of justice in the Colony is in an appalling state is in itself appalling.
Perhaps
a very few lawyers do propound such a belief which of course is no more than their own opinion.
The Bar Committee has not authorised
any member of the Association to make represen-
If two senior tations to the Foreign Office. members have done so, then they have acted in their personal capacity which, of course, they
If on their representations, are entitled to do. Lord Gardiner as Chairman of Justice or anybody
has taken a concerned else in the United Kingdom, view about the legal and judicial climate in Hong Kong, the Bar Committee will welcome any repre.. sentative who might be sent out for an on-the-spot investigation. Such a representative will have the fullest co-oparation of the Bar.
Admittedly, the Legislative Council in Hong Kong is neither elected nor representative, but to say that our laws are "rubber-stamped" is no more than mud-slinging at the Legislature.
A. ZIMMERN, O.C
BAR COMMITTEE
CHARLES A. CHING, Q.C. MARTIN C. M. LEE
• PATRICK S. 5. YU
• CAESAR K. F. WONG
ANORSW LI
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JOHN J. SWAINE--
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