19
TUESDAY, MAY 4, 1993
1
GOVERNOR PATTEN: I guess that is a reflection
of the difficulty of running New York.
I have to say that being Governor of Hong Kong
isn't exactly a pushover, trying to manage a smooth
transition from British sovereignty to Chinese sovereignty
in 1997.
It is, as you said, chairman, the last great
colonial responsibility which the United Kingdom has, but
there is a distinct difference between our responsibility
in Northern Ireland and that which we have discharged in
other dependent territories over the years.
Elsewhere, we have been preparing communities
for independence, and we have provided them with the
appurtenances of independent statehood.
We have established fully democratic structures,
independent courts, civil service, we have sent them a
Speaker's Chair from Westminster, and we've launched the
satellite into outer space and sometimes it has gone into
a very satisfactory orbit and sometimes, alas, it's come
crashing down to earth again.
But the purpose, always, has been the same, to
establish a democracy on a Westminster model which we hope
will sustain the community into years of independence.
/In Hong