Sir David Trench GCMG MC
Church House
Church Road
Shillingstone
BLANDFORD
Dorset
PERSONAL
34
en
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SW1A 2AH
Mrs
....*..
31 May 1979
HKA 431/2
KELANVAD
1 JUN!979
DEAK
INDEX
Sear david,
After the last meeting of the Dependent Territories Senior Appointments Board you were kind enough to say that you hoped I would let you know if there were any changes I wanted to consider in regard to the Board: and that you yourself were, so to speak, at my disposal in that respect. I told you I was reflecting on this and how grateful I was to you for taking the initiative over it.
It has taken me some time to think this through. But after doing so with care, I have reached the conclusion that the time has now come to wind the Board up. It clearly served a very useful purpose when it was first established in 1969. There were then more dependent territories than there are today, and many more HMOCS candidates for senior posts in them. Nowadays, with the supply of HMOCS officers drying up, we are having to look more and more to the Diplomatic Service as a source of Govem ors and Chief Secretaries. The small number of our remaining dependencies also means that there is seldom sufficient business to justify a meeting of the Board round the table; as you know, most recent appointments have been dealt with out of Committee.
Against this background there seems to be no real justification for keeping a separate board to handle dependent territories' appointments. I therefore propose to recommend to the Secretary of State that we should in future deal with chess appointments through the normal Diplomatic Service da linery. This does not of course mean that all future Governors will be taken from the ranks of the Diplomatic Service. As now, HMOCS candidates will be considered on their merits.
I shall be informing the Board of this at the meeting on 4 June which I hope you will be able to attend, but I wanted to warm you of it beforehand and to emphasise that it in no way reflects on the past usefulness of the Board.
I would like in
/particular
PERSONAL