CO129-611-2 Liaison with British Embassy and consulates in China- appointment of political advisor 1-9-1945 - 20-10-1947 — Page 136

5.

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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