CONFIDENTIAL AND STRICTLY PERSONAL
26.
Whether the Governor should appoint the new person at once is debatable. There are various possible permutations which will depend on the Governor's preference and the availability of people. One possibility would be to put the senior diplomat in place of the present Political Adviser, upgrading the latter post for the purpose. (The existing Political Adviser has his own office, located separately from Government House).
27.
The Governor will also need someone to keep an eye on the voluminous telegraphic and other traffic between Hong Kong and London (Hong Kong sends more telegrams than
Washington or UKMIS New York) and someone who can conduct
the more sensitive exchanges himself, on the Governor's
behalf. These functions could also be carried out by the senior diplomat referred to above (he will probably need to be supported by a Grade 5 and a Personal Assistant).
28. Finally, a new Governor will wish to consider whether
the existing Private Office is what he wants. It contains a
Counsellor-equivalent Principal Private Secretary and two Assistant Private Secretaries, all from the Hong Kong Civil Service, an ADC and some support staff. One possibility would be to appoint a more senior person as Principal Private Secretary either someone of "Secretary" (PUS)
level from the Hong Kong Administration or a fairly senior
official from London. The latter would arouse resentment in
Hong Kong, at least initially and he would probably be handicapped for a considerable period by not knowing the
/Hong Kong
MARACE/9
CONFIDENTIAL AND STRICTLY PERSONAL