DSR11
Registry
No.
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION
Top Secret.
Secret,
Confidential.
Restricted.
Unclassified.
PRIVACY MARKING
DRAFT
LETTER
To:-
D L Davies Esq OBE
..In Confidence
1.
I should Pre very graterul for your advice
in connection
with a problem
that has arisen over the legal status of public servants : Hony Kong. In a recent letter,
i
Mr S.P. GRAHAM, on the present relationship
between the stong
Kong Government and it's serrents..
on
to the Hong Kong Government No Graham's Conclusions and recommendations
Treasury Solicitor's Department Matthew Parker Street
SW1H 9NN
C.C. S.R. DAVIE,
PM5 Dept,
CSD.
Type 1 +
From
•HOOD RD, Caft,
Telephone No. Ext.
Position of Public Servants in Hongthong
we
Department
Hong Kong and General Department has recently
havesuggested
received from the Hong Kong Government a letter asserting
Position
that the present legal status of that Government's
servante is unsatisfactory and that there is a need
for
codification of their terms of service with some
measure of statutory backing.
present
Civil Serrie appears to be
2. In fact the position of Hong Kong is similar
other planes
that of other sel ies and former colonies and analogous
to that in the United Kingdom of the Diplomatic Service
and the Home Civil Service
3.
We received with the Hong Kong letter a legal
A a serior Hoz, Kony opinion by Crown Counsel of which I enclose a copy of
We see little inthis opinion from which we would dissent
would question whether
except that on page 14, line 3 we do not regard the
Orders in Council under which Estacode and the Diplomatic
Service Regulations were made as having "legislative
force".
4.
Ae for his conclusions and recommendatione, Before
I would find it helpful to have deciding what advice we should give we ought to obtai
Whether your views on the satisfactoriness or otherwise of the
has proved generally satisfactory or otherwise analogous position the United Kingdom Civil Service. Ir does not appear to have created any legal difficulties) This has muddled through in spite of the absence of
statutory regulation for many years (although of course
subject to certain general enactments such as the
Official Secrets Acts and the Industrial
legislation), without serious difficulty and
Relations
1108087
the Civil Service
is
00M S&K 1/77
/not