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13.
Since the reoccupation of the Colony, increasing attention has been devoted to the New Territories, in which four District Officers are now stationed, as opposed to a prewar estab- lishment of two officers. Ever this increase in supervisory officers has not enabled the staff of the District Office to deal adequately with the complex problems connected with land tenure and to carry out their magisterial functions. It is considered necessary to have a qualified legal officer whose special work would be in connection with the land problems of the New Territories, who would be stationed outside the urban area, and who would also act as magis- trate. The establishment of administrative officers is still largely made up with officers appointed since the war who have had neither the time nor the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the law, and this is a situation which is likely to continue for some time. Nowhere has the lack of legal training been felt more acutely among administrative officers than in the New Territories At some later date it might be possible to reduce the number of Cadet Officers on duty in the District Office, but the necessity for retaining a qualified legal officer is expected to continue. It would be con- venient if the post was included in the Registrar General's Depart- ment, as its primary functions will be connected with land work; magisterial work being important but nevertheless subordinate. Provision has been made in the 1948-49 Estimates for one additional Assistant Crown Solicitor (now to be redesignated Legal Officer) for this new post, approval for the creation of which I shall be grateful to receive.
14.
The future of the Estate Duty Office is still uncertain. At present it forms part of the Treasury and an officer from the Attorney General's Department gives his attention to it on a part- time basis. It is probably more logically placed under the control of the Inland Revenue Department, but I do not propose to burden this despatch with proposals on its future.
15.
Although these recommendations have been made from the standpoint of what is the best organisation. for legal departments, I have not overlooked their possible effect on the present Assistant Crown Solicitors. Were the recommendations of the Salaries Commission to remain unimpaired there would be four superscale posts to which the Assistant Crom Solicitors might aspire, namely
Basic Salary
Crown Solicitor
£ 1550
Senior Magistrate
£ 1500
Registrar, Supreme Court
£ 1425
Land Officer
£ 1425
If my recommendations are accepted, the only superscale post which in practice will be treated as reserved for solicitors will be that of Registrar General. The post of Senior Legal Officer, which I have proposed in paragraphs 7 and 9 should ultimately replace the Crown Solicitor, could not theoretically be so reserved although it would be open to solicitors and might in practice be more often filled by a solicitor than by a barrister, particularly if, as is preferable, the appointment were made locally. It may be therefore that recruitment to legal posts of solicitors, and in particular soli- citors who have qualified in the Colony, will suffer a setback and that there might be some discontent among those already employed as Assistant Crown Solicitors. I do not, however, consider that this consideration is of sufficient weight to abandon a reorganisation which has otherwise a great deal in its favour and harmonises with