MEMORANDUM
STAFF IN CONFIDENCE
FUTURE STAFFING IN THE DEPENDENT TERRITORIES
1 I think that the problem of providing adequate staffing for the Dependent Territories over the next decade looks easier to solve if one pursues rather further the question of the qualities and qualifications for each kind of continuing expatriate post, and if Hong Kong is not completely left out of account. Hong Kong must now be the largest source of people with the relevant experience in dependent territory administration, and I do not see why it should be impossible to persuade people to leave Hong Kong, particularly if it is seen to be in their career interest
(rather than against it) to do so at least once in a career. The financial aspect cannot be an insurmountable obstacle: staff of adequate quality for senior posts are going to be expensive in any event, and if a Hong Kong candidate is better qualified than some- one else without relevant experience any additional money spent on persuading him to accept a post on secondment would be well spent. At least as important as the financial side of accepting a secondment, however, is whether to do so will promote or impair an officer's career prospects. This consideration certainly inhibits Home Civil Service officers from accepting posts abroad, and no scheme for encouraging Hong Kong officers to serve in other territories would succeed unless the Hong Kong Government were to make it clear that no-one's career would suffer as a result (for example, through absence at a time when promotions were under consideration), and that a period of service outside Hong Kong would indeed be placed to an officer's credit.
2 My other general comment is that a distinction should be drawn between the posts of Governor and his immediate deputy, which call principally for administrative experience of the kind possessed by all senior civil servants, though certain particular qualities are required, and such posts as Financial Secretary and Attorney General, which really call for experience of a distinctive "dependent territory" kind. The range of duties to be carried out in each case goes considerably wider than, say, someone from HM Treasury or from the English Bar would normally possess at the time of his appointment, though he might very quickly be able to master the unfamiliar aspects of the job.
GOVERNORS
3
In addition to the normal qualities and experience of a senior Diplomatic Service officer, I think that the "job speci- fication" for a Governor's post must include the following:
(a) Direct experience of, or alternatively a keen interest in, and a feel for constitutional questions. This covers both the proper relationship to be maintained between the Governor, Ministers, the judiciary and the executive generally, including the police, and the question of constitutional development.
1
STAFF IN CONFIDENCE
/ (b)
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