Done
Qu
1. H.K.
tel.314
22-4-41
2
The point at issue in this telegram is really the treatment to be accorded to Mr. Forrest, and copies of the telegram and of the minutes in this file should accordingly be registered, after action, on his p.f.
The telegram, however, also raises certain questions of general principle to which I refer below, although they are not explicitly referred to by the Governor. The facts of the matter are these:- Having regard to the difficulties created in the Colony, particularly from the point of view of defence and health services, by the continued influx of Chinese refugees, the Hong Kong Government, at the beginning of this year, passed an Immigration Bill which, for the first time in the history of the Colony,
imposed certain restrictions on the entry of Chinese. Mr. Forrest was appointed Immigration Officer in charge of the new Department and arrangements which were set up to work the Ordinance. The work of the Department from the outset was evidently giving rise to public concern, and a Commission of Enquiry into it was appointed under the Chief Justice. This enquiry has now found that (1) Mr. Forrest failed to institute an adequate financial system in the Department; (2) entered into an agreement for a monopoly of the photographic and secretarial work in connection with the filling of forms by applicants after it had been explicitly directed that no monopoly should be granted; (3) appointed and retained certain undesirable persons on his staff; and (4) displayed lack of tact and courtesy towards the public.
The findings of the Report were that Mr. Forrest, while temperamentally unfitted for the post to which he was appointed, can to some extent be excused through the unhelpful attitude shown to the new Department by the Treasury and Secretariat, and by the evident lack of understanding on the part of the Hong Kong Government of the work which would fall to the new Department. The Report also blamed the Government for selecting so unsuitable an officer for the post.
As regards Kr. Forrest's future, the Governor does not think it safe in his (Mr. Forrest's) present state of mind to publish the Report, nor to take proceedings against him under Colonial Regulations. In this he has the concurrence of his Legal Advisers, and proposes, subject to the Secretary of State's confirmation, to approve the finding of a Medical Board that Mr. Forrest should be immediately invalided on the grounds that he is suffering from acute glomerulor nephritis.
The Governor has also asked for the Secretary of State's views on whether Mr. Forrest should be provided with a copy of the report before he leaves the Colony, and whether publication should be withheld until the report is in our hands.
Mr. Forrest's career in Hong Kong has shown that the abilities with which it is generally agreed he is endowed have been, to some extent, overshadowed by his neurasthetic tendencies which date, as far as I can make out, from his experiences in the last war when he suffered from shell shock after being buried by a shell explosion. Subject to the views of Dr. Smart, I think the proposal for Mr. Forrest's invaliding should be accepted. The Hong Kong
Government