TNAG-0214-FCO40-250-Proposals-for-appointment-of-a-ombudsman-in-Hong-Kong-1968 — Page 29

CONFIDENTIAL

requirement that complaints must be routed

through Unofficial Members of the Legislative

Council would undoubtedly do much to enhance

the status of such Members, but in the particular

circumstances of Hong Kong this might have its

drawbacks. (This point can hardly be put to the

Governor's unofficial advisers although the

Parliamentary Under-Secretary may wish to put

it to the Governor himself.)

(b) If members of the public were given the

option of complaining either direct or through

a Member of the Legislative Council, then the

chances are that they would choose the direct

approach.

(c) It is in our view vitally important that the

volume of work descending on the Ombudsman in the

first months of his appointment should be kept

within limits which will ensure that his office

is not over-loaded. The same point needs to be

borne in mind when considering the range of

subjects which are to fall within the Ombudsman's

powers of investigation.

(a) We think that the initial staff of the.

office should be small (not more than perhaps a

dozen persons at most) and that it would be

better in the early stages to err on the side

of caution as regards the scope of the Ombudsman's

responsibilities:

these can always be extended

-3-

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/in..