TNAG-0594-FCO40-740-Staffing-in-the-Dependent-Territories-in-the-1980s-1977 — Page 92

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CONFIDENTIAL

STAFF IN CONFIDENCE

Sir Ian Sinclair

LEGAL AND JUDICIAL STAFFING IN THE DEPENDENT TERRITORIES IN THE 1980's

(14

1. I attach a copy of Mr Stewart's recent paper which is mainly about staffing

in the highest administrative grades. Paragraphs 10 and 11 deal with legal and

judicial appointments and are based on the assumptions in paragraph 1 of the paper.

Please refer also to Annex B relating to probable needs for expatriate full time legal

and judicial officers, which was based on my advice. To assist you in considering this

submission I also attach a copy of the current list of legal and judicial staff in

dependent territories which I have up-dated in manuscript.

2.

Some comments are necessary on Annex B:

(a)

(b)

(၁)

We need not deal with Hong Kong. They recruit their own legal and judicial

officers and have no difficulty, owing to the high salaries offered. They

promote from their own ranks indeed, it is difficult when the occasion

arises to inject a meritorious permanent and pensionable officer from outside

Hong Kong.

A number of territories do not appear on the list. This is either because

there is no work, as in BIOT and Pitcairn, or because recruitment is done

by another department MOD deal with the Sovereign Base Areas, or else

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because the appointment can be filled by a non-resident, usually from the

United Kingdom, making occasional visits. High Court judicial work in

Anguilla, Falkland Islands and St Helena falls into this category. On further

consideration I have added a legal adviser for St Helena to the list in

Annex B as there is a resident legal adviser there at present and the

Governor will probably be unwilling to do without one in the future.

Many Caribbean dependent territories have in recent years been able to supply their needs for High Court judges from local sources. Montserrat and the

British Virgin Islands both participate in the West Indies Associated States

Supreme Court and we have not in recent years had to supply judges for them.

Turks and Caicos Islands fill their occasional needs for a judge by appointing

CONFIDENTIAL

/an