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Yes.
من رحمة
Mr Male
CONFIDENTIAL/ADMINISTRATION IN CONFIDENCE
RECEIVIN
6 APR 1976
WEK 4/5/548/1
GIBRALTAR AND GENERAL DEPARTMENT: INSPECTION REPORT
1.
Your minute of 22 March and the minutes by Mr Larmour and Mr Cortazzi to the Chief Clerk, raise the question of recruiting for the Hong Kong Government service and the related question of a home for the General section of Gibraltar and General Department.
2.
My agreement to the procedure for recruiting administrative officers for the Hong Kong service as set out in paragraph 35 of Mr Morgan's report was based upon the proposition that it was contrary to our interests for Hong Kong to assume responsibility for its own recruitment, with the consequent extension of Hong Kong's autonomy
to this new field. Mr Morgan's original idea was that Hong Kong should take over recruitment in its entirety but I was opposed to this because I thought administrative recruits to Hong Kong should be selected by the Head of G&GD to leave them with the impression that they were, as indeed they are, Crown Servants. I saw no harm in some of the administrative work being taken off the shoulders of G&GD provided that the ultimate responsibility lay here. I should add that this proposed compromise was reached before the planning paper had so clearly identified the need for greater accountability from Hong Kong and greater control from London. If, as a result of the planning paper, you feel the procedure described in paragraph 35 of Mr Morgan's report goes too far, then clearly we should return to the status quo. (At no time was it my thought that Hong Kong should assume "responsibility
for its own recruitment; and perhaps the compromise reached in paragraph 35 should have resulted in consequential amendments to other parts of Mr Morgan's report e.g. paragraph 36.)
3.
If so, and if the Secretary of State accepts a more active role for this Department, you might like to consider recommending to the Chief Clerk that most aspects of the General work of G&GD should go elsewhere. However, I see no problem about absorbing responsibility for recruitment for the Colonial Service into my Department. By far the greatest part of recruitment is, of course, for Hong Kong;
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CONFIDENTIAL/ADMINISTRATION IN CONFIDENCE