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COPY.
Enclosure
1897
511
Chambers, Rece
Rea 19 JAN 12
Supreme Court, Hongkong
6th. December, 1911.
Sir,
With reference to paragraph 4 of Your Excellency's letter of 2nd. December,, I think it is accurate to say that the policy approved by His Majesty's Government was taken entirely without reference either to the legal profession or to myself. So far as the legal profession is concerned, on the file of correspondence which I have, it appears that there was an isolated reference to the
practising members of the legal proffession with regard to some de-
-tail of the bill after it had been drafted; and there is a letter
from Mr. Justice Gompertz dated 2nd.. November, 1911, which deals
with the details but not with the merits of the scheme. The absence
of any detailed scheme before Council in the shape of a bill is the obvious reason for the Law Society not having moved when Your Excel-
-lency referred to the matter in Council in September, 1908: more especially as it is perfectly well-know that the legal profession, like myself, desire an improvement in the Appellate Court of the
Colony. They would naturally therefore wait to see the details
before offering an opinion on it. Moreover the schme not having
been referred to again, it has generally been assumed to have been dropped.
I regret to learn that Your Excellency does not
feel justified in asking the opinion of the profession without special
instructions from the Secretary of State.. Reverting to what I have
already said with reference to questions which I hope Your Excel-
-lency will put to me, I would point out that in the Law Society,
which is the duly constituted representative of the solicitors
practising in the Colony, Your Excellency has ample opportunity of
ascertaining whether my views are shared by the legal profession, and
on at least two important points I venture to suggest that it should
be so tested first, that the allotted time is insufficient and that
unless
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