TNAG-0594-FCO40-740-Staffing-in-the-Dependent-Territories-in-the-1980s-1977 — Page 61

STAFF IN CONDIDENCE PERSONAL

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between Hong Kong and the FCO. This supply could be supplemented by encouraging the IMOCS officers that still survive to continue after normal retirement as desk officers until the age of 65 and perhaps beyond. This would give a reservoir of experience in Wie 200 until say 1985, by when the problen should be reduced by the final solutions of independence or integration.

4.

It may be wise to reconsider the award of knight- hoods to the Governors of dependent territories, ev cil though these posts are not raked sufficiently high in the normal Diplomatic Service to merit this. Hol only would a knighthood give some additional prestig bo the holder of an isolated post who may have for enoudi local friends and has no other diplomats with whom to consort; but it may help induce some officers ir the Hong Kong Service he have already made sufficient savings from their mighty' salaries to accept Gover.025 appointments at less pay than they now recoive, Although probably the bell: of the officers to serve as Chief Secretaries ana fovernors must be iram from the ranks of the Diplo&tic Service as Stewart suggests, there would secr Berit in a policy of flexible recruit- ment. There has long been a retired General or Adrizal as Governor in Gibraltar and senior officers retiring from the Armed Forces might be suitable candidates for remaining Governorships provided there was a suitable backing of local vell trained staff whose loyalty vas assured. Similarly there may be persons retiring from Commerce occasionally an oil company or Cable and Wireless or the United .frica Company might tu1. up a suitable candidate, again provided he was suit bly underpinned.

5. If I may quote from my own experience I doubt vhether the absence of an expatriate second in command · to the Governor presents insuperable problems. During ny seven years in the 'à rks and Caicos Islands 13 second in command was We local Treasurer, Wan Yood, who was reliable whilst in office, though to some extent one had perforce to ieep one's own council. Al telly there was not then in the Turks Islands a Minister:al forn of Government, but when I went on to Dominica in 1965 a full Ministerial system was very much i full swing and my next in cortand there, the Chief Secretary, was also a local nan : he had not been on speaking terms with the Chief Minister for some years and indeed did not speak to any of the Ministers if he could avoid doing so. If anything had happened to me it would have been urgently necessary to send in an expatriate relief. But despite this curio is situation, I had local secretaries working directly to me who handled correspo idence in the Personal Series, who used the cypher and those loyalty and discretion. never doubted. As far as I lov there was never a leakage or information to the Ministers: of course when stayed on as the first Governor under Associated Statehood, the Chier Secretary retired, my starf was transferred to the Chief Minister's Office and there was a destruction of documents in the lersonal Series and return or destruction of cypher.