XN000022-1979-03-23 — Page 18

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"I must admit to special interest in engineering that helps to

solve one of our most basic problema lack of land and spade for

which to build new industries, and new towns to man them in which a

better life is possible than in the crowded area around the harbour.

"If ever we have to choose between works for convenience in

the old areas on the one hand and the opening up of new areas on the

other, I have no doubt our prosperity and our future will depend on

our choosing the new.

"So for my part I watch with special interest: the Aberdeen

Tunnel and its associated roadworks; the Tsuen Wan Tuen Mun motorway

becoming six-lane; the double tracking and electrification of the

Hong Kong section of the Kowloon-Canton Railway, and also the other

highways linking the towns of the New Territories, and then with the

old urban areas,

and above all the massive works of reclamation and

construction to which they give access, and which spread out from them

to provide new land and new possibilities and elbow room for the future.

"Please do not misunderstand me. I do not imply that engineer-

ing is only concerned with the manipulation of mud and rock, concrete

and steel. But that is how it all has to start.

"Then comes the part of the engineers who design our machines

and our products, who keep our factories in touch with latest technology,

and apply them to our own requirements, who constantly push upwards the

sophistication and competitiveness of our industry.

"In a recent speech by The Prince of Wales in the United Kingdom

he deplored the resistance of industry in the United Kingdom to promoting

engineers to managerial positions, and the difficulty of managing well

if you do not know the machines you are managing. I have been impressed

that this is not the case in Hong Kong.

"Most of our