XN000022-1982-05-20 — Page 10

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SPEECH BY THE CHIEF SECRETARY, SIR PHILIP HADDON-CAVE, AT THE SWEARING-IN CEREMONY AT THE CITY HALL ON MAY 20, 1982

Your Excellency, Lady Youde, Ladies and Gentlemen:

Twelve days ago we, the people of Hong Kong, said farewell to Sir Murray MacLehose who had governed us for the last 10 years. They were years of momentous developments, charted by Sir Murray's strategic sense and made possible by the post-war foundations laid by his predecessors. The farewell was a sad occasion for it brought home to us all that an ern was over.

Today, however, signals another beginning. It is an auspicious occasion and an occasion on which it is my privilege to be the first to welcome you, Sir, to Hong Kong as our 26th Governor.

You are no stranger to Hong Kong and you have spent one third of your working life in China. We are particularly conscious that you will bring to your high office here the unique qualifications of your service as Her Majesty's Ambassador in Peking; and more recently as the second most senior official in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

We look forward to the rest of this decade, and beyond, with confidence, for we believe that long Kong will continue to surmount the difficult and the unexpected as it has done in the past; and we believe that a prosperous and settled future for this very special place will be secured under your leadership as the Queen's Representative and as the Chief Executive of this Government.

In carrying out the challenging tasks before you, Your Excellency can count on the loyal support of all members of the Civil Service whom I believe to be exceptionally well motivated, accountable, and linked in with the views of those they serve through the consultative system. At the same time, Your Excellency and Lady Youde can depend upon the prayers and good wishes of the community as a whole to support you during the years ahead.

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