Friends and Teachers: Hong Kong and Its People 1953-87

Preface and Acknowledgements

Preface andAcknowledgements 'What? A District Officer again!' ( Dr ! X{*:EI~Jff ! ) exclaimed one of my former 'parishioners', in tones of shocked disbelief, during a chance encounter on a ferry to Lantau in 1975 when he had asked me where I was now working. I must surely have disappointed him. After all, it was thirteen years since I had left the Southern District after five years as District Officer,I and officials in my grade were supposed always to move heavenwards! Nonetheless, had my career not been temporarily in the doldrums at that time with this posting back to the New Territories, much of my later published work might never have materialized. It is also conceivable that this book could not have been written, at least in its present form. The New Territories were, for me, a magical place, and despite being changed irrevocably by development and modernization (and garnished with their detritus), remained the source of much of my fascination with Hong Kong and its people over the thirty-two years of my government service. I served there in all for almost half that time: as District Officer South in 1957-62; as District Officer (and Town Manager) Tsuen Wan between 1975-82; and finally as Regional Secretary New Territories, heading the District Administration there in 1985-87.2 Along with my other postings in the city, they provided the opportunities for direct contact with people and places that have enabled me to keep on writing about Hong Kong over the years. However, this book is rather different. Although it carries forward the direct narration used in my account of the history and growth of Tsuen Wan New Town, it is more of a personal record and wider in scope, and it takes in my work and experiences as a member of the 'Cadet' (or Administrative) Grade of the Hong Kong Civil Service, from July 1956 up to my retirement in November 1987.3 I was in something of a unique position. As an Administrative Officer, I belonged to a grade of the civil service that was generalist in nature, whose members were moved around, filling middle and upper level posts in key departments and in the Government Secretariat. But what makes my x Preface and Acknowledgements service unusual was that, unlike practically all my contcmporanes who had intermittent and even very long spells of duty in the Secretariat besIdes any departmental postings that came their way, I spent nearly all my time in outside departments; and two-thirds of it III urban and rural district administration m what, m a colonial government, could be styled the 'political' departments. The 'memoir' IS therefore an account of the government away from the Secretariat, as it was 'm the field' so to speak, and over a period of great change in Hong Kong's material and social condition. ThiS enabled me to observe, as well as participate in, the 'government and people' relationship over the years. The earlier part of my service saw me deeply involved with the development programme; and the middle penod with the attempts made throughout the 1970s to improve the standard of life for the majonty of people, and to bring them to some sense of identification with Hong Kong and awareness of their civic responsibllIties. My last decade was largely taken up with the programme of bringing m what, in official circles, was called 'more representative government'. Thereby, I was able to witness the change from benevolent paternalism to a sharing of power with the people and their partly elected representatives on boards and commIttees at the different levels. Lest these weighty topics should cool the reader's incipient interest, let me hasten to add that personal aspects are not lost sight of, and that I have heeded my fnend 'Sam' Adshead's advice to include 'a httle bureaucratic indiscretion, more favourite anecdotes, and even some vainglory'. My work on local history, and other leisure interests, also find a place in the story. In its dIfferent ways, I like to think that my histoncal bent helped me do my job more effectively. My enquiries among elderly people and theIr families took me into their homes, making it possibJe for me to get an 'outside' view of government. This was not something easily acquired in those days, given the exalted position that we officials still had within the Chinese tradition, and the customary deferential attitude of the people towards officialdom, whether foreign or home-grown. There were also...