TNAG-0992-FCO40-1211-Policy-on-salaries-and-pensions-for-civil-service-in-Hong-Ko-1980 — Page 328

:

7.

We now seek your approval at the earliest moment for the

amendment of the Letters Patent or the issue of appropriate instructions

to grant the Governor an unassailable power to suspend Goverment servants without pay in the circumstances of industrial action.

8.

We are advised there is also a potential problem over the

question of delegation of the Governor's powers under the Letters Patent. This stems from Article XIII (2) which in providing an express power of

delegation in relation to land grants, implies the absence of such power

in other circumstances.

9.

This request accords with the position with which you have previously expressed support, namely that to pass an Ordinance in the Legislative Council would involve inevitable political and practical

difficulties. It is also a qualification of the legal advice previously given by Senior Crown Counsel that the need to take any remedial action other than alteration of the preamble to Government Regulations might be

avoided. Upon consideration of Cons J.'s decision, we are now satisfied

that irrespective of the result of the Dispensers' Appeal, an express power additional to that in Article XVI is desirable, i.e. to provide

for the conduct and conditions of service of persons holding public

office. This we see as meeting the difficulty outlined in para. 4

above, namely that it is arguable that the Governor's prerogative povars

under Article XVI are limited to disciplinary matters and do not extend

to such non-disciplinary matters as C. S. R. 611 nor to suspension without

pay. We think it would also set at rest doubts which have arisen, with

which you are well familiar, as to the exact status of our Government

Regulations including C.S. R. s. These doubts, we suggest, have if anything been compounded by Cons J.'s decision in the Dispensers case. Sao, Đ.go

p. 11:

"In his latter of suspension the Secretary for the Civil

Service purported to rely upon Regulation 611.

That vas

an error since his authority is derived from the Letters

Patent,"