•
contract officers have been informed that they will also be eligible if they opt to join the pensionable establishment bre 30th June this year (though there is, apparently, some question concerning the machinery whereby judges were afforded a comparable eligibility)
It has been the practice of the Secretary of State to admit to membership those who are eligible for it.
There is no advantage or for officers consequence
joining HMOCS other than the prospect
the that they will be eligible to benefit from conditions outlined in the 1954 White Paper and further elaborated in the 1961 White Paper (there is no suggestion that there
there is any right
any right to particular terms). It could hardly be denied, therefore, that it is entirely reasonable for Hong Kong officers who are members of HMOCS (the position of those who are eligible but have not opted is not the same) to expect that provision will be made for them comparable to that which has been made for HMOCS officers elsewhere. (I do not think that a letter by a Minister of State to an MP in
in 1989, even if it had some circulation
of HMOCS in Hong Kong, amongst members of HMOCS
stating that the British Government did not contemplate an immediate right to retire for police officers substantially affects the issue so far as members of HMOCS are concerned; the expectations were reasonable when officers joined
joined HMOCS initially and subsequently and there was no general circular disabusing them of those expectations).
Even if the British Government did not previously appreciate the extent of such expectations, it must be clear from the visit of the FCO/ODA team to Hong Kong earlier this month and the reactions of the Hong Kong members of HMOCS to the current proposals for a scheme that such expectations are widespread and deeply held.
8.
Apart from the Hong Kong Government's own limited compensation scheme (which appears to be sparingly applied), the arrangements presently made or proposed for HMOCS in Hong Kong on the change of sovereignty are such that it can be reasonably asserted that they accord with the conditions and principles set out in
in the White Papers and with the generality of previous practice in two respects only: there is an agreement between the United Kingdom and China that for officers who
who remain in the service of the SAR the conditions of service will be no less favourable than they were beforehand and that pension benefits for Hong Kong officers and their dependents will be similarly safeguarded. As for the rest:
(a) the Hong Kong Government apparently refuses to introduce a general compensation scheme;
on or
(b) the Hong Kong Government apparently refuses to contemplate providing a right to retirement after the equivalent of the relevant date with immediate pension;
Governments
funds,
as
(c) compensation under the British
for proposals
payments out of UK distinct from subsequent payments made conditional on further service, is limited to one fifth of the sum produced by the tables; and it is understood that the tables on which compensation is calculated are not actuarially sound. Even were the payments subsequent to the first made without any obligation