XN000022-1975-05-01 — Page 7

ROYAL VISIT PRESS RELEASE

Thursday, May 1, 1975

BEHIND THE SCENES FOR THE ROYAL VISIT

The Queen's visit to Hong Kong next week will climax months

of preparation that have involved dozens of people concerned with the

many aspects of her brief but crowded itinerary.

A Government spokesman pointed out today that the amount of

detailed behind-the-scenes planning required for such an event was

enormous' and far too complex to contain within the confines of a

single team of organisers.

Guiding all these preparations through their long weeks of

planning and rehearsal has been a amall steering committee chaired by

the Governor, Sir Murray MacLehose. The members of the committee are:

Sir Yuet-keung Kan, Senior Unofficial Member of the Executive Council,

Mr. A. de O. Sales, Chairman of the Urban Council, Lady Gordon,

Mr. Denys Roberts, the Colonial Secretary, Mr. Denis Bray, Secretary for

Home Affairs, Brigadier R. G. Lewthwaite, Director of the Royal Visit

Office, Mr. Roy Henry, Deputy Commissioner of Police, and Col. Patrick

Palmer.

Looking forward to the outcome of all this effort, the spokes-

man commented: "The steering committee, and everyone else concerned,

will feel rewarded if the evidence of all the work they have put into

it goes totally unnoticed when the programme swings into effect, because

the measure of real efficiency of planning lies in the degree to which it

remains behind the scenes.

Meanwhile,