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3.
Before you or the Hong Kong Government make a decision as to what level of appointment should be the subject of the practice prescribed for the purposes of Regulation 19, it would be as well to consider what might be the consequences of that decision for the purposes of Regulation 66(1) of the Colonial Regulations specifically referrable to Hong Kong (there are Colonial Regulations applicable to Hong Kong as well as Hong Kong's Civil Service Regulations and some of the general Colonial Regulations and some of the general Colonial -Regulations) and Regulation 67 of the general Colonial
Regulations, which relate to various disciplinary procedures and compulsory retirement. So far as Hong Kong Colonial Regulation 66 is concerned, it may well be that paragraph (1) (c) encompasses paragraph (a) and (b), so that the level proposed for the future for the purpose of Regulation 19 would not have any significant effect. The Hong Kong Government can best advise on the relevance of Colonial Regulation 67 in present circumstances.
4.
The
Subject to paragraph 3 above, I do not have any views as regards the level proposed for the Civil Service. As regards the Judiciary, an appointment of the Chief Justice will have to be referred to the Secretary of State since this is a matter on which the approval of The Queen is currently required and the Secretary of State will need to submit. Hong Kong paper does not indicate whether the Chief Justice has been consulted about the suggestion that no other judge should continue to be subject to Colonial Regulation 19, but Volume 8 of DSP (in the grey cover edition, I do not think that the Dependent Territories Volume has yet appeared in the new edition) provides a continuing role for the FCO in appointments of High Court Judges. This may well continue to serve a useful purpose. I certainly recall at least one instance in recent years where a proposal from Hong Kong was questioned here and subsequently withdrawn. Until the Judicial Service Commission becomes executive, I would suggest that it may be prudent to retain the requirement that appointments of High Court Judges should be referred for approval to the Secretary of State.
5.
Membership
The question of HMOCS is a separate matter. of HMOCS represents a if somewhat amorphous relationship with the Secretary of State which is distinct from the relationship between the officer concerned and the Government of Hong Kong. So long as the door to HMOCS is open to new candidates, then the Secretary of State must continue to have the deciding role as to who may be admitted and, accordingly, if this role can only be exercised at the time the individual is appointed to a pensionable office, the requirement that his
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