Copera from (96) in 1824///-C FUR.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SW1A 2AH
22 July 1977
HKA 373/393/1
Sir Denys Roberts KBE QC Chief Secretary
Government Secretariat
HONG KONG
Dear Denys,
APPOINTMENT OF HIGH COURT JUDGES
1.
Thank you for your letter of 6 July 1977 and for letting me see the draft procedure to fill vacancies for High Court judges in Hong Kong. The draft seems to accord with our views except that Item 1 should include, in accordance with Colonial Regulation 19, something like "the vacancy is notified to the Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs". This is necessary because:
2.
a) Colonial Regulation 19 is mandatory and clearly calls for a report to be made to the Secretary of State "when a vacancy occurs in such a post";
1
(b) so that if the Secretary of State wishes to make any nominations to the post, they can be presented to the JSC at the same time as the Hong Kong shortlist. Otherwise, any Secretary of State nominations would be at a disadvantage vis-a-vis the JSC and, if the Secretary of State wishes to make any nominations, his being brought into it at an early stage would clearly obviate any later embarrassment.
Your
Consequentially, your paragraph 3 should read "candidates put forward by the Secretary of State, the CJ, etc". paragraph 6 could then read "FCO considers the recommendation. When the person to be offered the appointment has been
delected," FCO telegrams Hong Kong asking that this person be asked whether he wishes his name to be submitted".
yous
JAB Stewart