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FAR EASTERN ECONOMIC REVIEW January 9, 1969.
HONGKONG AFFAIRS
Outsider's Chance
ON paper, the new Colonial Secretary appears to have a useful blend of political and administrative experience to recom- mend him. As a colonial official who served first in India and then took part in creating independent states out of Bri- tish colonies in África, Sir Hugh Norman- Walker should have a clear idea of how to come to terms with popular opinion and have more keenly developed political instincts than most civil servants in the
Hongkong Government. While the Seychelles has never been remarkable for the efficiency of its administration, the experience of having grappled with a weak bureaucratic machine and attempted to instil with a new sense of purpose is no bad thing for a Colonial Secretary in Hongkong.
It is also an advantage that Sir Hugh has already been a colonial governor. A
man who has served at the top of an administration ought to be unafraid of responsibility and eager to make a positive impact on the bureaucracy of Hongkong instead of being content, as So many Colonial Secretaries have been in the past, to get buried in the files and let minutes and memoranda take command of his working day. Although his career to date hardly fits him to come to a quick under- standing of the Colony and its peculiar problems, it is perhaps more important for Hongkong to have as Colonial Secre- tary a man capable of producing a flow of new ideas and policy proposals rather than a home-grown official whose only real qualification is unexceptionable ser- vice.
The appointment of Sir Hugh ought to bring another bonus. He is a man who still has several years of service ahead of him. If he does no less than keep his copy-book clean, he can expect to follow Sir Michael Gass to the Western Pacific
as High Commissioner. But the door is open to him to do better than this. If he can really make his mark on the Hong- kong administration, he should be able to look forward to becoming Governor of the Colony, perhaps by the unusual step of direct promotion from Colonial Secre- tary. At the same time, his appointment represents a challenge to some of the more promising members of the Hongkong Civil Service. Two or three believed that they had a fair chance of getting the post, not this year possibly, but in 1970 if London nominated the expected out- sider to take over as Colonial Secretary on a caretaker basis. Their immediate hopes have been dashed, and London seems to have indicated that the ability to move files with dispatch and to avoid giving offence are not sufficient qualifica- tions for the rank of Colonial Secretary; the ambitious must display initiative, leadership and some political flair.
EMERGENCY REGULATIONS: It is accepted in most quarters in Hongkong that the 1967 emergency is well and truly over. However, the Emergency Regulations, introduced at the height of the disturbances, are still in force. John Rear, a lecturer in law at Hongkong University and the storm centre of the recent controversy over the Emergency Regulations, presents the case for both the Crown and its critics.
The Rule of Law.
By John Rear
THE
HE Government has a splendid opportunity to make an authoritative reply to those who criticise Emergency Regulation 31 and the administration's right to make arrests and hold individuals without trial. This week, at the Open- ing of the Assizes, the Attorney General will have a forum to state the official case for retaining these sweeping powers
thin b
Child & HIKK 1/12.
and to defend the Government's record as he did last year. During the war, the Governor was given a power to detain without trial, first under GN 703 of 1939 and then under the Defence Regulations, 1940, 18(1), which was in the same terms as the United Kingdom Defence. Regulation 18B. In 1949, all the Emergency and Defence Regulations
RECEIVED IN ARCHIVES No.31 30 JAN 1969
HKK 74/20
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