TNAG-0398-FCO40-444-Appointments-to-supreme-and-district-courts-from-the-Bar-in--1973 — Page 59

(38)

At the same time the Hong Kong Government are likely to accept modifications to the Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Bill and the Public Order (Amendment) Bill, designed to clarify the scope of these new laws.

At the same time I believe that

I hope that you and your members will regard these

developments as satisfactory.

the members of your Hong Kong branch should bear in mind the

real problems facing the Hong Kong Government, and should give what support they can to measures to speed up the administration

of justice in the Colony, and to deal with the current wave of

violent crime. The Governor's professional advisers are practising lawyers with the same background as your members; so are the judges and magistrates. The proposed legislation is not intended to give the Hong Kong Government greater influence

over the Judiciary, nor will it have this effect. The suggestion in Mr. Litton's letter to Mr. Sargant that the Government's

campaign against violent crime is an exercise to whittle down

judicial independence is of course very far from the truth. I believe that the Governor bears a heavy responsibility;

he needs

and deserves the assistance and wise advice of the legal

profession.

Since writing the above I received on 25 June your further

3 letter of 21 June. It seems that the Secretary of your Hong Kong

Branch has not informed you of the major changes adopted by the

Hong Kong Government. So I hope that the changes which I have described do now meet your main objections, which, as you say, are centred on the possible defects in the Criminal Court system

/in