PERSONAL AND
STAFF IN CONFIDENCE
P C Duff Esq
26 August 1977
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diplomatic service post that, in my view, the absence of relevant experience would be a very real handicap to an officer undertaking it for the first time.
3. In addition there is the absolutely fundamental difference, which I believe is of the greatest importance, between the attitudes, objectives, judgements and motivation of a colonial administrator, on the one hand, and of a diplomat, on the other. A colonial administrator/Governor is responsible for taking political and practical decisions on all matters, great or small, affecting the welfare of his territory. He is concerned with doing things, for, with and through the people heserves and he has to live constantly with the consequences of his decisions and judgements. The diplomat, on the other hand, is required to observe, report, analyse, interpret, assess and represent, but he must necessarily remain detached and aloof, and he is enjoined not to become closely or personally involved in his environment. Although a diplomat may sometimes be called upon to assist, or support, or to mediate and use good offices towards the Government or other institutions in his country of post, his work, his judgements and his decisions seldom have direct consequences for himself but only for others.
4.
I therefore agree with the suggestion in paragraph 9 of the Paper that it is desirable to build up a cadre of officers with relevant experience as the supply of HMOCS officers dries up. But there are obvious difficulties in appointing as Chief Secretary in one of these very small poor territories on officer who does not have that relevant experience. Until he has gained such experience he would not be in a position to give the Governor the same service and support as an experienced officer could, so part of the advantage of having a second senior officer in post, in accordance with the Monson doctrine, would be lost. At the same time, however, in these small territories there is really little or no room for a third officer, as a trainee. There is no place for him in the establishment, and in a place like Anguilla there is not even any physical accommodation for him either. I am not sure what the solution to this problem is, except that it may be possible to carry out the training functions in a larger territory like Belize, or perhaps in somewhere like the Cayman Islands where there may be enough scope for carrying an extra traince officer. I am not sure that Hong Kong would be a good training place, because of the substantial diffiernces between it and all the other Dependent Territories.
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5. In the case of legal and judicial officers, the Attorney-General in Anguilla is on an OSAS contract, and it was originally intended that the CS should also be on DSAS terms, had it not been for the abortive proposal to convert all OSAS to TC terms which caused it to be agreed at the time that Dickson should come out initially on TC terms. The Attorney-General's contract therefore was not "made by the Secretary of State" (para 1 of the paper). This distinction between the Attorney-General and the CS in their
PERSONAL AND STAFF IN CONFIDENCE
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