CO129-523-3 Appointment of Chief Justice and Attorney General 31-1-1930 - 19-2-1931 — Page 11

I have nothing whatever to say against

Mr. Alabaster personally I believe he is a

very competent Lawyer but I am against his

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appointment as Attorney General of Hong Kong for

the following reasons:

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(1) Sir J.Kemp (who began his career as

a Cadet in Hong Kong in 1898) was Attorney General

from 1915 to 1930, and is now Chief Justice. If

Mr.Alabaster, who went to Hong Kong in 1909 and

has made his career there, is now appointed

Attorney General, which will create a sort of

tradition that the higher legal posts in Hong Kong

must be reserved for men with Hong Kong experience.

This would be contrary to the recent pronouncement

at the Colonial Office Conference in favour of the

unification of the Colonial Service, which implies

that members of the Legal Branch of the Service in

other Colonies should have a chance of transfer

to Hong Kong if their legal qualifications are

sufficient.

(2) With regard to the general question

involved, whether a high legal post in a Colony

should be given to a man who is not in the Service,

I may remind you that in the recent case of the

Chief Justiceship of Ceylon, when a proposal (which

did not originate within this Office) was made for

the appointment of Mr. Barrington Ward, K. C., a

distinguished member of the English Bar, it was

turned down by the Secretary of State. In the

case of an Attorney Generalship, a man who has

been practising not at the English Bar but in the

Colony might, it appears to me, on occasion be

embarrassed in the execution of his duties by the

legal ties and associations resulting from 21 years'

practice