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considered that it would be politically inexpedient to make
the Shanghai Judge a Puisne Judge of the Hongkong Court.
The Chief Justice of the Colony would of course always
preside, and the Shanghai Judge would be made a Judge of
Appeal. He confidentially told me that it would be better
that the arrangement should only extend to the substantive
holder of the appointment at Shanghai. His absence on leave
would only probably involve his missing one sitting in
four years. The distance of Shanghai from Hongkong(2 and
a half days only) seems to render this proposal feasible
in point of view of time and expense involved.
6.
I have heard the view expressed
that the work of the Judge at Shanghai does not usually
embrace many Chinese cases, and is of a different nature
from the work of the Supreme Court here, but it appears
to me that a shrewd and able Judge sitting in appeal upon
questions of fact and of law need not be especially versed
in the idiosyncracies of the Chinese character even
supposing that the Judge at Shanghai had not acquired a
considerable knowledge of that character by his residence
in the East The argument might be used with even greater
effect regarding the appointment of a Chief Justice for
Hongkong from Mauritius, Fiji or any other Colony. I may
observe
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