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4. Mr Cater's appointment has been submitted for approval by the Dependent Territories Senior Appointments Board. One of the members of the Board is Sir David Trench who has expressed some
reservations about Mr Cater's having been preferred to
Mr Haddon-Cave. Sir David points out that Mr Haddon-Cave is superior in solid intelligence and sheer ability, but accepts that Mr Cater excells in personality and flair. These are fair points but (as Sir David himself concedes) not sufficient to reverse the preference for Mr Cater, especially as Mr Cater is the Governor's
own choice.
5.
The
This leaves the question of the successor to Mr Cater. Governor has expressed a preference for Justice T L Yang, a Justice of the High Court. This would be an imaginative choice: Justice Young is relatively young and very able and there is much to be said for having a local Chinese in charge of the Independent Commis- sion Against Corruption. However, there is a problem because Justice Yang has said that he would only take the job provided he could be sure of returning to the Bench afterwards, and apparently there is likely to be some resistance to this from the senior members of the Hong Kong Judiciary. However, the Foreign Office Legal Adviser believes that there are no practical objections, except that Justice Yang would need to avoid corruption cases after his return to the Bench.
JA B Stewart
24 April 1978
Hong Kong & General Dept
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