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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
DR. HUANG:- Mr. Chairman, I beg to second.
CHAIRMAN:- The Motion has been moved and seconded.
MR. BERNACCHI :- One query, Mr. Chairman. I would like to ask why Hong Kong has turned over from Fahrenheit to Celsius. I find it most hard myself—I always have to turn it back to Fahrenheit.
CHAIRMAN:- So do I, Mr. BERNACCHI, but I think the reasons are now lost in the mists of history of recent years—it’s longer now than I can remember.
The question was put.
The motion was carried unanimously.
FAREWELL TO MR. J. P. ASERAPPA, COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT.
CHAIRMAN:- Ladies and gentlemen, that should conclude the business of this meeting, and for a meeting in the close season when we are supposed to go into hibernation and not do very much work I think 15 questions and 2 motions isn’t bad going. This is Mr. Jack ASERAPPA’S last meeting as Commissioner for Resettlement; he had hoped, I do believe, to fold his tent and slip away silently, but he has not been able to hand over just yet. He won’t be leaving us; although we were told he was going to go on retirement, he won’t be leaving us just yet. There is a special duty being prepared for him, but I think, despite his desire to slip away, it would be wrong not to mention that he has been an Official Member of this Council now for very much longer than any of the rest of us—I think it is nearly 12 years since he was first Commissioner for Resettlement—I am sure in that time he has suffered as many slings and arrows as any of us have had the pleasure of receiving. We won’t say goodbye, I will just thank him, if it’s not presumptuous to do so, for his long and valued service to this Council. (Applause).
MR. BERNACCHI:- I rise to say farewell to Mr. ASERAPPA on behalf of all the Unofficials. I have known Jack for over 20 years, including welcoming him twice on this Council as Commissioner for Resettlement, and more personally, of course, I have known him as Commissioner for the New Territories. Even when I disagreed with him, as I do sometimes, I have found him not only polite but also at pains to set out his reasons for his own point of view. I wish him, and his charming wife, many years of happy retirement, when in fact he goes—you have of course said that he is not retiring just yet, and there is a mystery apparently but when he goes I am sure that he and his wife will indeed have many years of happy retirement. (Applause).
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:- Mr. Chairman, I would like to thank Mr. BERNACCHI and yourself for your very kind remarks. Mr. BERNACCHI delved back into history; I have calculated myself that over the last two and a half years we’ve had rather more than a hundred meetings with the various Resettlement Select Committee—it would no doubt be a breach of Standing Orders to say what goes on at those meetings, but what I can say is that we have had our difficulties there, but at the same time we’ve got through a very considerable amount of work, and I’d like to think we’ve made some improvements in policy and in the general approach towards resettlement problems. Personally, I am most grateful to those Members who have given so much time to these duties, and I must apologize if there’ve been times when I’ve expressed my own views rather too forcefully. Mr. Chairman, I wish all Members of this Council every success. (Applause).
ADJOURNMENT — 5.30 P.M.
CHAIRMAN:- That concludes the business of this meeting. Council stands adjourned until 1st September, 1970 at 4 p.m.
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