No.2.
The Houghong Celegraph
HONGKONG, THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 1903,
ACTING APPOINTMENIS,
Our evening contemporary, in its issue of yesterday, comments editorially upon the forthcoming changes in the Legal Depart- ments of the Colony, consequent upon the absence on two months' leave of Sir William Goodman, who leaves Hongkong for Japan by the Empress of India on the 22nd inst. According to the China Mail the Attorney General, Sir H, Spencer Berkeley, has appa- rently successfully established his claim as of right with the powers that be to the high- est judicial pest in the Colony, thus gaining priority over the Puisne Judge, His Honour Mr. Justice Wise and other officials in the Service the merits of whose claims, if weighed in the scale of purely impartial decision deserve better consideration than they have evidently received at the hands of the Exe- cutive. We are impelled to criticize the present acting appointments from no sinister motive of personal bias against either of the two successful contestants, or greater regard for those who have been passed over without. the recognition which is their due. It would, for instance, have been graceful, if not a distinct advantage to the Bench, had the Governor appointed to the Acting Chief Justiceship the Puisne Judge, Mr. A. G. Wise. A good lawyer, thoroughly versed in Chinese customs and the wiles of the Celes tial, he could bring to bear upon the discharge of his high acting appointment the experi ence and practical knowledge which have raised him pre-eminently in public estimation as an exponent of the Bench of the first order. Honourable as the Attorney General's career has been in Crown Colonies of less importance than Hongkong, he owed his distinguished promotions largely to the peculiar conditions governing the constitution of the colony at the time. When, however, it is a with Hongkong, the respective claims of individual applicants to promotion must be considered in the light of local merit. Ac- cepting this as an axiom, and there are not many who would dispute it, the preference of the Puisne Judge for the higher judicial office must be admitted as far above that of any officer who can put forward a claim. Our contemporary refers to a right which Sir Henry Spencer has established in the present case. We have at present no knowledge that any right can be enforced in regard to an acting appointment. As far as we know of the practice regulating the re-adjustment of offices in the Civil Service on
case
account of the absence of
any officer, the details are left to be settled amongst the officers departmentally, and re- ference is subsequently made to the Governor for approval purely as a matter of form. In these cases, it has been the practice for the officers in the lower grades to take up the respective posts on an ascending scale. This rule is not without exception, but neverthe- less is one generally accepted as work. ing well in practice. As regards substantive appointments the Colonial Office regulations are definite, and to these we will refer pre- sently. The appointment of Mr. E. H. Sharpe, K.C., to be acting Attorney-Gen- eral was as little expected as it must create surprise amongst officers in the Government service. While congratulating the appointee, there can admittedly be no objection offered by the public for having obtained the services of our senior barrister as legal adviser to the Crown for the short period of two months only. The wonder is that Mr. Sharp should have cared to accept the duties of the office for so short a period. We imagine that the Government might have done better than ignoring the claims of its own servants whenever opportunity arises for promotion or advancement. Iu the legal department we have gentlemen "of considerable local knowledge and ex- perience eminently qualified to act in the capacity of Attorney General with credit to themselves and to the advantage of the Colony at large. Amongst the leading legal lights we need mention the names of but two to show that the Government in the choice of their candidates for the Attorney Generalship need not have gone outside the ranks of Service men for their selection. We refer to the Registrar of the Supreme Court and his Deputy both of whose reputations are not confined to the circumscribed limits of the Island, but whose attainments, professional knowledge and distinguished carcer in the Service of the Crown should have secured for them the full measure of recognition which had been denied them in the past as it is again wrested from them on the present occasion. We have always held up for the application of the principles of justice and fairplay in all that concerns the affairs of Government, and in pursuance of that policy and to decry the Bagrant injustice of which public servants of lesser influence ale made the victims, we do not hesitate to denounce the Government
for pas- sing over just claims of worthy officers, by the neglect of whom the efficiency of the public service stands not improbably to suffer. An article in a recent number of Truth ex-
Į presses our views so well and is so pertinent to the question under discussion that we make no apology in reproducing it in these columns. The writer says -
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