TNAG-0106-FCO40-142-Proposals-to-appoint-an-Ombudsman-1969 — Page 187

CONFIDENTIAL

BACKGROUND NOTE

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General

The Appointment of an Ombudsman in Hong Kong

There have been no previous Parliamentary Questions on the

subject of the appointment of an Ombudsman in Hong Kong. The

matter was raised in May 1967 by Mr. P.A.R. Blaker, M.P., in a

letter to the then Secretary of State (Mr. Bowden) to which the

latter replied that in view of the situation in the Colony it

would be some time before the Governor could give his considered

comments on the proposal. The matter has however, been the

subject of Press comment in Hong Kong from time to time during the

past three or four years. There was in particular considerable

comment in the Hong Kong Press following a meeting in August 1968

between Lord Shepherd and Mr. Brook-Bernacchi, a member of the

Hong Kong Urban Council. On that occasion the Minister informed

Mr. Bernacchi that although he could see the need for such an

appointment, he saw considerable difficulties about it at the

present time; he thought that we should await the development of

the City District Officer scheme (see Para. 5 below) before

pursuing the idea of an Ombudsman.

2. The Hong Kong Government have for several years been

considering the possibility of such an appointment.

They have

made a study of the Ombudsman systems in Scandinavia and in New

Zealand as well as of that in Great Britain. However, they have

not as yet reached any conclusion as to whether or not such an

appointment should be made.