b)
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Purdon himself, if he proved such an outstanding success in all respects that the appointment would be accepted by the Police and he could be trusted with the command, and if we thought Henry would not do;
c)
Someone from outside, but he would have to be so good that he would prove immediately acceptable to the Force which would, of course, be suspicious 'of an outside commander.
Since these options have been clear for some time ( mentioned them to. John Stewart when he was here in April), asked Sir Colin Woods, on an entirely tentative basis, to consider whether there was anybody he would like to recommend in the U. He said he would like to take his time about this but would be ready with a view in mid-July.
I think we should keep our minds open on these three possibilities. Purdon is proving an immediate Success. Fe has only been here a month, but as of now I should expect him to be good enough to cope with option (). I do not think that we could even consider Gantil late in the year when Furd on has been in office for at least six onths. We will hear what Sir Colin Woods thinks about (e) when an in London in mid-July. I he has a candilate I would wish to meet him before my return.
At the same time we can discuss the time of Slevin's retirement, which to some extent will depend on which option we go for. Put I would be opposed to him leaving before the end of the year, or before the Crane reforms have been seen well on their way.
Inspection of the Hong Kong Police from the UK
When Crane left it was agreed that in order to ensure that his work is not wasted, a follow-up visit would be necessary in the early part of next year and I will be discussing details about timing with Sir Colin Woods in July. The two visits will have established the principle of inspections by H M Inspectors of Constabulary, and I personally think it would be helpful if Hong kong was made a regular biannua 1 commitment. ro informal conversations with Sir Colin Woods I am satisfied that there would be no problems on his side. However the immediate requirement is to complete Crane's own exercise. We might speak about
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