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"I must admit to special interest in engineering that helps to
solve one of our most basic problema lack of land and spade for
which to build new industries, and new towns to man them in which a
better life is possible than in the crowded area around the harbour.
"If ever we have to choose between works for convenience in
the old areas on the one hand and the opening up of new areas on the
other, I have no doubt our prosperity and our future will depend on
our choosing the new.
"So for my part I watch with special interest: the Aberdeen
Tunnel and its associated roadworks; the Tsuen Wan Tuen Mun motorway
becoming six-lane; the double tracking and electrification of the
Hong Kong section of the Kowloon-Canton Railway, and also the other
highways linking the towns of the New Territories, and then with the
old urban areas,
and above all the massive works of reclamation and
construction to which they give access, and which spread out from them
to provide new land and new possibilities and elbow room for the future.
"Please do not misunderstand me. I do not imply that engineer-
ing is only concerned with the manipulation of mud and rock, concrete
and steel. But that is how it all has to start.
"Then comes the part of the engineers who design our machines
and our products, who keep our factories in touch with latest technology,
and apply them to our own requirements, who constantly push upwards the
sophistication and competitiveness of our industry.
"In a recent speech by The Prince of Wales in the United Kingdom
he deplored the resistance of industry in the United Kingdom to promoting
engineers to managerial positions, and the difficulty of managing well
if you do not know the machines you are managing. I have been impressed
that this is not the case in Hong Kong.
"Most of our