CONFIDENT IAL
of Morton's fork in that a supervising officer can be guilty either on the grounds that he knew of corruption and failed to report it or that he did not know but should have known had he
been reasonably efficient. I believe that both prongs of this fork are reasonably just.
6. We discussed the problems of localization and expatriate recruitment. Expatriate recruitment into the Inspectorate now represents only about 40% of the total intake and it is hoped to reduce this progressively over the years. There was a widespread feeling among senior officers that the quality of the most recent expatriate intakes had fallen well below standard. The expatriate inspectors themselves were concerned about localization. In
many cases they regarded themselves as belonging to Hong Kong (particularly those who had taken Chinese wives) and it would be unfair if their promotion prospects were to be decided on anything
other than a merit basis.
7.
The senior officers were concerned over the difficulty of getting effective legislation passed by the Legislative Council and particularly concerned at amendments introduced by Unofficial Members which effectively emasculated legislation introduced to overcome major difficulties. They were also very concerned about the recent difficulties about procuring places for middle grade and senior officers at the National Defence College and the Royal College of Defence Studies. They asked me to investigate what could be done about providing training for these officers outside Hong Kong, particularly for opportunities to give them a glimpse of life outside their narrow professional sphere.
8.
Mr Crane was confident that if the recommendations that he
was making were accepted, the Force should pull through this difficult period and in two or three years become once again a professional, competent force with a high 'esprit de corps'. He felt that the most important part of the recommendations would be those concerned with Headquarters reorganization and the
injection of new blood in the senior ranks. He is concerned that
the present top management of the Force will be reluctant to
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confidential