CODE 18-77
SS 8/78
CONFIDENTIAL
Reference
HKC 340/1
ROWE I REPATRY NO
2 5 MAR 1981
OK NFFICE
Mr Rushford, Legal Adviser
INONA
cc Mr Morrice, HK&GD
P
BYR
Li er 3013
(12
NATIONALITY BILL: MEANING OF 'CROWN SERVICE'
1. I attach a copy of a reply from the Home Office to my letter of 12 February seeking to establish whether unofficial members of the Executive and Legislative Councils in Hong Kong will be regarded as being in Crown Service for the purpose of the naturalisation provisions of the Nationality Bill. Although the view of the Home Office Legal Advisers is that their service does not amount to Crown Service for the purpose in mind I understand that they are still ready to consider argument to the contrary. They have little experience of the type of appointment under consideration. They do not come within the normal category of case that has arisen in the past. If therefore you wish to oppose the Home Office view I am ready to do so if I can be given a clear argument.
2. It is still uncertain as to how important this point is going to be in relation to passible amendments to the Nationality Bill. If Hong Kong have in mind to cater for unofficial members of the Executive and Legislative Councils (apart from official Crown Servants) it would make life much easier if it could be established that the 'unofficials' are in fact in Crown Service for the purpose of the naturalisation provisions. If however Hong Kong wished to spread the covering wider than unofficial members of the Executive and Legislative Councils it may not be so impor- tant, for any amendment to the Bill would then necessarily have to be so phrased as to cover people other than those in Crown Service.
6 March 1981
CONFIDENTIAL
W Jones
Nationality and Treaty Department
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