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I think a H.K Civil servant would need whitchell
he could understand out
P.R.O. should do.
M.
No. su §18 lost sentence.
M.
Para 12.
Continuity of office.
This problem of leave has been a traditional cause of trouble in Colonial administrations
51
in post-war years. (When I was in West Africa in 1947 it was largely solved by requiring senior staff to take annual leave of two months). The trouble about Sir G. Mallaby's sensible suggestion may be a trade union one. Many officers supplement their salaries by long periods on acting pay and some would lose heavily on the change proposed. You could find out from the C.S. if there is any weight in this. Para 14. Image with the people. A government spokesman of sufficient calibre to deal with the press himself and encourage more officials to do so too would, I think, normally have to be found in at least the middle senior grades of the administrative service and you may mean this? A professional "information officer" would hardly carry enough weight and tends to be regarded as a useful "dogs-body" to ward the Press off Government! Since joining the F.0. machine I have been much impressed by the results obtained by using a regular member of the Diplomatic Service as "government spokesman" as compared with the practice elsewhere in Whitehall of using professional Press officers.. But it will require a good deal of re-thinking in the Hong Kong Service to find the same solution there!
17 - 18 Housing. With respect there may well be some inconsistency between these two paragraphs. Present Hong Kong views in correspondence reflect the thought behind para 17 but argue that with a limited building capacity it is wrong to give the re-settlement of squatters priority over plans to improve the standard of accommodation, reduction of density and improvement in
environment.
19.
Labour. I am sure that Mr Paul Tsui will give a new look to the Labour Department but I am not sure what that new look will be! He is a good leader of his young men. I doubt however if he has much patience with "new-fangled" ideas in the general public very much the paternal Mandarin.
21. Salaries. Sir G. Mallaby's admission that the Salaries Commission's Report will not achieve the necessary improvement in recruitment confirms the "minority report" put in by Mr Hall and Mr Morgan in the shape of a letter to me and making specific recommendations for further inducements at HMG's expense.
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I am
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awaiting Sir H. Norman Walker's comments on this which will be the
essential preliminary to pursuing this in London. I am reminding
him that we want his comments.
*
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22. Recruitment. These comments read as though Hong Kong will do its own recruitment here. In my view Hong Kong have suffered in recent years by being left out of the recruitment machinery for expatriates for other dependent territories. They have managed
to fall even more behind the market vete than the recruitment section
of O.D.A. I believe that the best chance for the future lies in a
greater dependence on HMG both by way of secondment from the Home and Diplomatic Services and by a guarantee of posting to Home posts when Hong Kong Service is over. As you know the PUS agreed with Sir William Armstrong, that an interdepartmental working Party should be set up to consider recruitment, especially of administrative staff for dependent territories and Hong Kong's need will have to figure prominently in its recommendations. The main thing will be to get recognition in
London that the territories' needs are in fact our needs in terms of
our widest national interests. We have got off to a good start on this
and I would reserve a decision on what method will suit Hong Kong. best
until we have the report of the Working Party and have consulted together about it. (I believe you have been in touch with Mr D. Scott and Mr Shaw on this).
23.
Hong Kong Office in London.
I do not in any way dispute the suggestion that the office's functions should be radically reviewed and that a director of the highest calibre should be put in charge (you are, I think, aware of one idea for a successor to the present director at the appropriate time). But I doubt if some of your ideas about new functions will survive detailed examination. In this connexion, see Hong Kong telegram No. 767 about the Crown Agents attached, especially side- lined passages.
I believe that the view expressed there that use of Crown Agents' services is more economical than setting up one's own organisation has been confirmed by the experience of newly-independent states which set up their own purchasing agents but found it better in practice for those agents to deal direct with the Crown Agents. Incidentally you should note that unless there is a prior change as a result of the current enquiry with the Crown Agents, the S. of S's formal approval may be needed if there is to be any loosening of the ties to the Crown Agents laid down in Colonial Regulations.
Into
/portfolio
On
*
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portfolio management you are aware of the plan to entrust management of part of the portfolio to the Bank of England? Hong Kong and China
ers
I agree throughout and acknowledge my conversion to the line on confrontation prison in the face of earlier
doubts when we started on releases.
25 October 1971
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CONFIDENTIAL
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