:
布政司辦公
STAFF-IN CONFIDENCE
Our Ref: (11) in AP 341/11-C
CHIEF SECRETARY'S OFFICE GOVERNMENT SECRETARIAT HONG KONG
Sir Edward Youde, KCMG., MBE.,
Chief Clerk,
Foreign & Commonwealth Office, Curtis Green Building, Victoria Embankment, LONDON, SW1A 2JD,
United Kingdom.
Mydear Ted.
26th August 1978
Vacancy for Attorney General of Hong Kong
The present Attorney General and Solicitor General
of Hong Kong both wish to retire in 1979.
2.
We are satisfied that no obvious suitable successor can be found here, and we are therefore looking at various overseas sources from which we hope to find the next Attorney General. The office of Solicitor General is to be abolished as part of a substantial reorganisation of the Legal Department which will take place at the end of the year.
3.
An obvious overseas source is the U.K. Civil Service. We are not however certain as to the best way of identifying possible candidates and I write to seek your guidance on this.
4.
I imagine that the best procedure would be an approach at senior level to the Department of the Civil Service. It seems to us that senior officials there will know senior officials in other Departments who will be able to help us to identify possible suitable candidates.
5.
You will realise that the office of Attorney General here is a very senior one. His Chambers now have an establishment of 115 lawyers, who provide the bulk of the Government's legal services including responsibility for prosecutions for legal advice and for law drafting.
-
It
follows that a "suitable candidate" from the U.K. Civil Service means someone who is already in a fairly senior position, with considerable all-round legal experience, and preferably in his late forties or early fifties.
6.
Financially, the post is reasonably attractive. The present salary is HK$21,600 per month. Converting this at $9 to the pound gives a gross income of about 28,000 Sterling per annum. This would be subject to 15% tax, plus a 72% deduction from salary as rent of the quarter which would be provided. The quarter would contain heavy furniture but the
STAFF IN CONFIDENCE
appointee/.....