NOTE TO EDITORS:
Thursday, May 28, 1970
With reference to the announcement of the extension to the
Governor's term of office, the following background may be useful:
Sir David Trench's appointement as Governor of Hong Kong was
first announced on 19 July 1963 and he arrived in the Colony of 14 April
1964. Sir David had already served in Hong Kong from 1950 - 1960.
His posts during that period included those of Deputy Financial Secretary,
Defence Secretary and Commissioner of Labour. He held the post of
Deputy Colonial Secretary when he was appointed in 1961 to be High
Commissioner, Western Pacific.
Sir David and Lady Trench have a 13-year old daughter, Katherine,
who is at present attending school in England.
In the normal course of events Sir David's term of office would
have ended in April 1969. About a year before that the question of his
successor began to be discussed in the Hong Kong press and among Hong Kong
community leaders and, for example, a number of community organisations
sent petitions to the then Secretary for Chinese Affairs asking that his
term of office be extended. By July 1968 more than 450 such petitions
had been received and sent to London, and on 14 August 1968 it was
announced from London that the Queen had approved an extension of Sir David's
extension of office for a further year.
serve a 6-year term until April 13, 1970.
This would mean that he would
Speculation about a successor to the governorship was resumed
towards the end of 1969 and again a number of organisations sent petitions
seeking a further extension of his term of office. In December over 300
such petitions from organisations and individuals had been received and
transmitted to the Secretary of State.
When he
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