WEDNESDAY, MAY 28,
MAY 28, 1986
18
TRIBUTE TO OUTGOING FINANCIAL SECRETARY
*****
THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY, THE HON SIR JOHN BREMRIDGE, WAS DESCRIBED AS A MAN +SMALL OF STATURE, OF NO MEAN WEIGHT, BUT LARGE IN OUTLOOK, BROAD IN VISION AND BIG-HEARTED+ BY THE HON LYDIA DUNN TODAY (WEDNESDAY).
PAYING TRIBUTE TO SIR JOHN ON BEHALF OF ALL UNOFFICIALS, SENIOR MEMBER MISS DUNN SAID THEY WOULD ALL MISS HIM AND WOULD MISS HIS GOOD HUMOUR AND CUTTING WIT.
SHE RECALLED THAT IT WAS BARELY FIVE-AND-A-HALF YEARS SINCE LORD MACLEHOSE AND MR OSWALD CHEUNG PAID FITTING TRIBUTES TO MR BREMRIDGE AS HE THEN WAS UPON HIS RETIREMENT FROM THE COUNCIL.
+ IT IS NOT OFTEN THAT WE ARE FORTUNATE ENOUGH TO HAVE THE CHANCE TO DO THE SAME THING TWICE,+ SHE REMARKED.
MISS DUNN SAID WHEN SIR JOHN RETIRED FOR THE FIRST TIME MEMBERS WERE SORRY TO SEE HIM GO FROM THE COUNCIL AND IT WAS WITH GREAT PLEASURE THAT THEY LEARNED OF HIS APPOINTMENT AS FINANCIAL SECRETARY.
+HERE WAS A MAN WHOM WE KNEW, A MAN WHO KNEW HONG KONG, A MAN WHO, ALTHOUGH HE HAD SPENT A CAREER IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR, HAD A KEEN INTEREST IN MANY PUBLIC AFFAIRS FAR REMOVED FROM THE DAY-TO-DAY BUSINESS OF DOING BUSINESS,+ SHE SAID.
RECOUNTING SIR JOHN'S CAREER AS FINANCIAL SECRETARY OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS, MISS DUNN SAID HIS APPOINTMENT MUST HAVE SEEMED TOO EASY AT FIRST AS MONEY WAS THEN POURING INTO THE PUBLIC COFFERS FAR MORE SPEEDILY THAN ANYONE COULD SPEND IT.
THE COLLAPSE OF THE LAND BOOM PUT AN END TO THAT AND SHE NOTED THAT IT HAD BEEN A LONG STRUGGLE TO GET BACK TO THE SOUND FINANCIAL POSITION WHICH SIR JOHN HAD PRESENTED IN THE BUDGET JUST PASSED.
SHE SAID THIS INVOLVED A RESHAPING OF THE TAX SYSTEM, WITHOUT RAISING THE OVERALL BURDEN INTOLERABLY, AND A CONSTRAINING OF THE RATE OF GROWTH IN PUBLIC EXPENDITURE.
+NEITHER WERE PLEASANT NOR EASY TASKS BUT HE ACHIEVED THEM FAIRLY AND IN A WAY THAT WAS ACCEPTED EVEN BY THOSE WHO FOUND THE IMPACT OF THE CHANGES UNCOMFORTABLE, SHE SAID.
+LIKE THE GOOD SAILOR THAT HE IS. HE HAS STEERED THE HONG KONG SHIP ON A STEADY COURSE AND KEPT US OFF THE ROCKS,+ SHE REMARKED.
/MISS DUNN
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