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the practical implications have been fully considered in Hong Kong.
Since the matter
affects members of the Colonial Service, however, I shall have to bring it to the notice of the Colonial Service Department.
On general grounds I do not much like giving a court or magistrate, particularly the latter, power to dismiss a man from his appointment or to deprive him of his pension. The power of dismissal is, of course, the corollary to the power to disqualify for public office and if a court has the latter power it must logically have the former power also. Deprivation of pension is, however, quite another matter and I should have thought that, at least in the case of a Crown employee, whose claim to pension is in any case at the discretion of the Crown, it would have been better to leave the question to be dealt with by administrative action since a court or magistrate is not in a good position to assess fairly the
I shall raise value of a person's past services. this point with Griffin if I see him.
With kind regards,
Yours sincerely,
(J.C. McPetrie)