Mr Anthony Rogers QC
Chairman
The Hong Kong Bar Association
LG 3/Floor
The Supreme Court
38 Queensway
HONG KONG
I am sorry not to have replied earlier to your letter
of 9 February. You will know from the letter which the
Prime Minister's Private Secretary sent to you on 5 March that your views were taken into account when Ministers took
final decisions on the scheme.
The British Nationality (Hong Kong) Bill received its First Reading on 4 April. I enclose copies of the Bill, an explanatory note and the press release which was issued when the Bill was published.
The Government are fully persuaded of the importance of maintaining a strong and independent legal profession in Hong Kong before and after 1997: hence the proposal that specific provision should be made for lawyers within the General Allocation Section of the scheme. The Government
did not think it right to take into account indications
(such as those quoted in your letter) of any group's
intentions to emigrate. It would have been extremely difficult to quantify such intentions in any objective way. Past emigration rates have therefore been used in arriving
/at
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.