THURSDAY, JUNE 25, 198
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PWD DEPUTY DIRECTOR RETIRES
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THE DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS, MR JACK STEAN, IS RETIRING AFTER MORE THAN 23 YEARS OF SERVICE IN THE DEPARTMENT.
TO MARK THE OCCASION, THE DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS, MR DAVID MCDONALD, TODAY PRESENTED MR STEAN WITH A SOUVENIR ON BEHALF OF HIS COLLEAGUES IN THE DEPARTMENT.
SAID.
+JACK IS BY ORIGIN A LONDONER, AND PROUD OF IT,+ MR MCDONALD
+HE IS ALSO ONE OF THAT NUMBER - AND WE HAVE SAID GOODBYE TO SEVERAL OF THEM RECENTLY - WHO COMPLETED THE IR NORMAL SCHOOL ING AT A TIME WHEN THERE WAS A WAR GOING ON.+
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HE SAID THAT MR STEAN HAD LEFT SCHOOL IN 1941, AGED 16 TOO YOUNG TO GO IMMEDIATELY INTO THE ARMED SERVICES AND HAD SPENT ABOUT 18 MONTHS WITH THE ARCHITECT'S DEPARTMENT OF THE LONDON COUNTY COUNCIL BEFORE JOINING THE ROYAL AIR FORCE AT THE AGE OF 18.
+HE STAYED IN THE RAF FOR FOUR YEARS UNTIL 1947, THEN, RETURNED TO THE LONDON COUNTY COUNCIL FOR A FURTHER SIX YEARS, DURING WHICH HE QUALIFIED, IN 1952, AS A CHARTERED SURVEYOR IN THE BUILDING SURVEYING BRANCH,+ MR MCDONALD SAID.
FOR THE NEXT FIVE YEARS, MR STEAN WORKED AS A BUILDING SURVEYOR IN THE BOROUGH ENGINEER DEPARTMENTS OF THE TWO LONDON BOROUGHS, GREENWICH AND WEST HAM, AND BECAME A GRADUATE OF THE INSTITUTE OF STRUCTURAL ENGINEERS.
MR STEAN ARRIVED IN HONG KONG IN MAY 1958 AS A BUILDING SURVEYOR IN THE BUILDINGS ORDINANCE OFFICE, BRINGING HIS WIFE AND TWO CHILDREN.
+ THE STAFF OF THE BOO WAS THEN, AS IT IS NOW, CONSIDERABLY BELOW THE STRENGTH NEEDED FOR ITS TASKS, BUT PERHAPS THIS MADE FOR QUICK PROMOTION, FOR WITHIN JUST OVER TWO YEARS JACK HAD BEEN RAISED TO THE RANK OF WHAT WAS CALLED ASSISTANT CHIEF SENIOR BUILDING SURVEYOR,+ MR MCDONALD SAID.
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MR STEAN BECAME PRINCIPAL GOVERNMENT BUILDING SURVEYOR IN 1973.
+F OR MUCH OF HIS TIME IN THE BOO, JACK WAS CONCERNED, EITHER IN THE DIVISION, OR AS HEAD OF THE OFFICE, WITH DANGEROUS BUILDINGS, AND ANYBODY WHO HAS HAD EXPERIENCE OF THAT PARTICULAR FUNCTION WILL KNOW VERY WELL WHAT A TRYING AND OFTEN TRAGIC DUTY
IT CAN BE, MR MCDONALD SAID.
/MR STEAN