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be essential and targetting will need to be kept under constant review. I am glad to say that there seems to be some recognition of this within the Hong Kong Government as well as of the need to improve methods of intelligence assessment. Unfortunately
Mr Richardson, the present Head, will be leaving shortly. The most likely successor is his Deputy, Mr Morin, but he is not a Special Branch specialist nor apparently very imaginative.
be the ideal choice.
PUBLIC OPINION.
4.
He would not
The City District Officer Scheme provides further means of checking public opinion and the Hong Kong Government's reports
on the popular mood are said to be good. Mr Cater, the Independent Commissioner against Corruption, however, feared that there was a tendency for such officers to talk primarily to their equals and like senior officials in the Hong Kong Government, to reflect first their own opinions. It seemed to me indeed that the senior officers with whom I spoke were more conservative and cautious than many of the unofficials. The establishment in Hong
Kong outside the Government could well be prepared to accept change more readily than Government officials think.
REPRESENTATION
5. Mr Cater, in particular, felt that more could and should be
He also done to widen the basis of representation on UMELCO. thought that Urban District Councils should be strengthened.
LABOUR MANAGEMENT RELATIONS
6. Mr Cater expressed concern about the inadequate attention which he said was being paid in Hong Kong to improving labour management relations. There had been increasing trouble within government service and more could be expected as expectations rose. He thought that this might well be one of the main areas of difficulty in the next five years.
THE CIVIL SERVICE AND LOCALISATION
7. I expressed some concern about the small number of locally born officers in the higher ranks of the Civil Service. The Hong Kong
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/Government's
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