457
and (b) the appointments are "generally"
and not invariably to be given to
Cadets i.e. other officers may be
appointed even if fully qualified Cadets
are available.
I do not therefore understand
how the idea has arisen that Cadet
officers
have a preferential claim to legal or
other appointments, outside their own
service.
3. As I have already indicated,
I cannot recognize any claim on the part
of Cadet officers to hold either
temporarily or permanently the higher
legal appointments in the Colony,
such
as those of Chief Justice, Puisne Judge
or Attorney General.
In view of the importance
of many of the cases with which the
Courts of HongKong are required to deal,
I
DRAFT.
I consider it very necessary that the
principal legal officers in the Colony
should be trained lawyers, whose qualifica-
tions will command the respect of the publiç,
and it is obviously improbable that it
will often be possible to find such persons
in the ranks of the Cadet Service.
It may
occasionally be possible and desirable to
confer an important legal appointment on a
Cadet officer who has shown special
aptétude for legalwork as in the cases of
Mr. Sercombe Smith and Mr. Gompertz but
as a general rule I consider that the posts
of Chief Justice, Puisne Judge and Attorney
General should be held by professional
lawyers. I shall always be prepared to
consider with those of other candidates,
applications for these posts from qualified
members of the Cadet service but it must be
7
fully understood that in general they will
not
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