SPEECH BY HIS HONOUR THE DEPUTY TO THE GOVERNOR
Mr Lobo:
It is my privilege to associate Official Members with your eloquent testimony to His Excellency's governship these past 10 years and more. This privilege is mine ex-officio, so to speak, as Chief Secretary. But I also happen to be personally qualified to exercise this privilege for I, alone, among Official (and Unofficial) Members have served on this Council continuously throughout His Excellency's presidency. I would not wish to suggest that 1, alone,
have not fallen by the wayside, but simply that others have left earlier, or have started later, or have had broken
service.
By now, in various places and on various occasions all that can be said about His Excellency's governship has been said.
But I feel bound to make this observation: His Excellency's perception of the task of administering Hong Kong in the past decade has had a truly strategic quality about it which has been an inspiration to the Civil Service.
That perception seems to have been based on John Galsworthy's maxim that "if you do not think about the future you cannot have one". Certainly, that perception
has wrought profound changes in the economic and social circumstances of this city which must provide for all who live bere a sure foundation for the future.
The warm gratitude and admiration of the Civil Service, no less than of people of all walks of life in Hong Kong, go with Sir Murray on his retirement from his
post here, together with our affectionate best wishes for
bis future life as Lord MacLehose in Ayrshire and Westminster. Likewise, we extend our felicitations to Lady MacLehose who has graced Government House with such distinction throughout these eventful years.
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