Starr 1 11
CURT I DERCE
Capel from (185) in A8 241/1-0
AP 241/1-C
J A B Stewart Esq OBE
Hong Kong and General Department
FCO
LONDON SW1
19 October 1977
Appointment of High Court Judges
Please refer to your letter reference HKA 373/
393/1 of 22 July on this subject.
2.
I suspect that your interpretation of Colonial Regulation 19 does not accord with long established practice, either in Hong Kong or in other dependencies!
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3. !
Colonial Regulation 19 has, so far as I am aware, been regarded (in relation to all appropriate vacancies, not merely judicial ones) as satisfied if the notification of vacancy is accompanied by a recommendation from the overseas Government as to how the vacancy should be filled. Indeed, the wording of Colonial Regulation 19 implies that this would be the usual procedure.
4.
If the Secretary of State wishes to appoint someone else to the post, he is surely entitled to do so, without reference to the overseas PSC/JSC? Indeed, I suggest that it would be wrong for him to become involved in argument with the PSC/JSC. Nor should his nominees be subject to the approval of these bodies.
5.
Would the better practice not be for the Secretary of State, if he wishes to propose his own candidate, to communicate with the Governor, who would consult (informally) the Chairman of the PSC/JSC before replying to the Secretary of State?
6.
Could we not, therefore, leave matters as they are? As far as I know, the present system works well.
(Denys Roberts) Chief Secretary
STAFF IN CONFIDENCE