5.
133
ment and have to some extent lost touch with developments in
China. If therefore a permanent and regular member of the
Foreign Service with experience of China could be made avail-
able for service with this Government for a period of about
three years I should welcome the appointment and should
expect that by the end of the period of his secondment the
post could be filled by the appointment of a Hong Kong Cadet
officer.
9.
The office when permanently established will fall
naturally within the Secretariat for Chinese Affairs, and the
officer of the Hong Kong Cadet Service to be appointed to it
should in my opinion be responsible to the Secretary for
Chinese Affairs. He will in fact be one of that officer's
assistants, or possibly his deputy, If however a Foreign
Service officer can be made available for the three year
period which I have suggested, I would propose that he should
be independent of the Secretary for Chinese Affairs and
responsible directly to the Governor. He would in either
event maintain the closest contact with the Consul-General
at Canton and also with the Embassy at Nanking and he would
visit both Canton and Nanking frequently in order to maintain
these contacts.
10.
I would add that I most fully agree with the
observations in paragraph 5 of your despatch under reference
regarding the desirability of encouraging officers of all
departments to visit Canton and other parts of China. At
the present time, as you are aware, the pressure of public
business in all departments makes it difficult to arrange
for senior officers to absent themselves from Hong Kong for