TNAG-0213-FCO40-249-Appointments-of-membership-to-Executive-Council-of-Hong-Kong-1970 — Page 114

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Mr. Carter

In his minute of 17th February, Mr. Wilford has raised the subject of appoint- ments to the Hong Kong Executive and Legislative Councils. Each year, between January and June, we receive a letter from the Governor sounding us out informally about his proposals for such appointments (attached are copies of such correspondence in the past which gives a general background against which these appointments are considered). Subject to any views expressed, the Governor then embodies his proposals in a formal despatch. So far as I am aware, we have not yet heard from him this year. It may be that the Governor is deferring writing to us on this subject for as long as possible in the hope that a decision as to his successor will meanwhile be made. When Sir David Trench was himself first appointed as Governor of Hong Kong in April, 1964, he did not write to us about Executive and Legislative Council appointments to be made at the end of the following June until 5th June.

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It is true that all appointments to the two Councils (other than ex officio ones) expire at the end of June. This was deliberately contrived by the Governor last

// year, at a time when he was due to retire

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in April next, in order to give his successor a free hand in the making of such appointments and re-appointments. The idea was that the latter would then have had two or three months in Office before the new appointments needed to be made. As it is, now that Sir David's term of Office has been extended until.October, it means that appointments and re-appointments to the two Councils must be made three or four months before the new Governor takes up Office.

3. There is some danger in speculating about this matter before we hear from the Governor on the subject. However, one method of dealing with the situation might be to extend all existing appointments for a further period of one year (until June 1971) in what would be obvious to everybody as a holding operation. Official members of the Councils are in any event appointed for a year at a time and they would therefore present no problem. Unofficials are normally appointed for two year periods but this

is a matter of discretion and there is no apparent reason why they should not be appointed for one year only in the particular circumstances obtaining. This would mean that the incoming Governor would have a minimum of three or four months in which to formulate his views before writing informally in the normal way, and approximately eight months before the new appointments need be made. This seems to me to be a preferable situation

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