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Linda Choy

DRAFTING legislation for the establishment of Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal will be speeded up, but the bill will still not be tabled in the Legislative Council before February.

  Director of Administration, Nicholas Ng Wing-fui, said yesterday the Government wanted the bill ready as soon as possible.

  Mr Ng, who is to take over from Michael Sze Cho-cheung as Secretary for Constitutional Affairs, said it would take time to sort out ''complex'' details of the bill.

  Although he did not give a specific date for drafting to be completed, Mr Ng said the bill would not be tabled to Legco before February 1 when he took over from Mr Sze.

  It is understood the Governor, Chris Patten, will announce in his policy speech to the Legislative Council tomorrow that it is time to move ahead on the Court of Final Appeal.

  The bill is expected to be based on the agreement reached by the Sino-British Joint Liaison Group (JLG) two years ago.

  The JLG agreement has been vehemently opposed by the legislature and the legal profession because of the restrictions on the number of overseas judges.

  The Government maintains it is essential to honour the JLG agreement.

  The joint accord, struck in 1991, stated that the court should comprise four local judges and one overseas judge.

   Government lawyers, under the instructions of Attorney-General Jeremy Mathews, have been drafting the bill since early summer.

  Mr Ng said yesterday he was certain that the coming legislation would stick to the agreement between China and Britain.

  He was speaking at his first press briefing after the announcement of his promotion.

     Mr Ng said his move to a new job would not affect the progress of putting together the court legislation.

  Describing it as a ''complex'' bill, Mr Ng said: ''It involves quite a lot of considerations so it takes some time to draft.''   On Sino-British negotiations over the 1994/95 electoral arrangements for Hong Kong, Mr Ng said he was hopeful that talks would enter a ''new phase'' by the time he took over the Constitutional Affairs job.

  He refused to forecast the direction of developments in Sino-Hong Kong relations.

  Nor would he say whether he expected any amendments to Mr Patten's political reform blueprint.

  Mr Ng, 46, refused to comment on Sino-British relations which are at an all-time low since the signing of the Joint Declaration in 1984.

  When asked if he was worried that he might become another target for the Chinese Government after his predecessor, Mr Sze, Mr Ng said there was no need to predict the attitude of the Chinese Government when he took his new post.

  The basic responsibility of a civil servant was to stick to government policies and help promote them, he said.

  ''The position they take actually reflects the position of the Government as a whole,'' he said.

  ''There isn't such a thing as a personal view as a Secretary of Constitutional Affairs or Director of Administration, or any head of department or any branch secretary.

      ''I am duty-bound to sell and push the government position and explain it to the public or any other party that needs [an explanation].

  ''This is inevitable,'' Mr Ng said.



Appeal court bill 'speeded up'