XN000022-1992-06-29 — Page 2

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MONDAY, JUNE 29, 1992

GOVERNOR'S ADDRESS TO THE JOURNALIST ASSOCIATION AND THE NEWS EXECUTIVES ASSOCIATION

JOINT LUNCHEON

HELD ON MONDAY, 29TH JUNE 1992

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HE THE GOVERNOR:

MR HON, MR TSANG, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THIS IS MY LAST WEEK IN HONG KONG AND WHAT BETTER WAY TO START THAN HAVING LUNCH WITH ALL OF YOU, WHAT BETTER WAY TO END MY PERIOD AS GOVERNOR OF HONG KONG THAN HAVING AN OCCASION WHICH BRINGS TOGETHER THESE TWO ASSOCIATIONS UP THERE ON THE BOARD. MAY YOU HAVE MANY OTHER

OCCASIONS WHEN YOU GET TOGETHER IN A SIMILAR WAY.

HONG KONG IS WELL KNOWN FOR HAVING, PROBABLY, MORE NEWSPAPERS PER HEAD OF POPULATION THAN ANYWHERE ELSE IN THE WORLD AND CERTAINLY MORE JOURNALISTS PER SQUARE FOOT THAN ANYWHERE ELSE IN THE WORLD. SOME OF THOSE SQUARE-FOOTED JOURNALISTS I MEET AS I TRAVEL AROUND. IT'S VERY NICE TO SEE YOU ALL SITTING DOWN PEACEFULLY AND NOT HAVING TO GO ON A DISTRICT VISIT INSTEAD.

I

I THOUGHT WHAT I WOULD DO WOULD BE JUST TO REFLECT, VERY BRIEFLY, ON SOME OF MY OWN THOUGHTS ABOUT THE LAST YEARS AND THEN GIVE YOU A CHANCE TO ASK QUESTIONS. AND FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE WAITING TO RELY ON THE HANDED-OUT WRITTEN

TEXT. YOU'RE GOING TO WAIT FOR A VERY LONG TIME BECAUSE THERE ISN'T ONE. AND THEREFORE IF YOU WANT TO NOTE WHAT I AM SAYING, YOU WILL SOMEHOW TO REMEMBER IT.

HAVE

THESE

HAVE DOUBT

BEEN

THAT.

FIVE YEARS AS GOVERNOR ENORMOUSLY EVENTFUL YEARS, I DON'T THINK ANYBODY WOULD SOMETIMES PEOPLE SAY TO ME: YOUR GOVERNORSHIP HAS BEEN FILLED WITH MORE SERIES OF PROBLEMS THAN ANYONE ELSE'S. I'M NOT SURE THAT THAT'S TRUE, I SOMETIMES THINK BACK TO ONE PARTICULAR GOVERNOR, SIR MARK YOUNG, WHO ARRIVED HERE IN THE SUMMER OF 1941 AND HE FOUND HIMSELF IN A CONCENTRATION CAMP BY CHRISTMAS DAY. I DON'T HAVE TO PUT UP WITH ANY PROBLEMS LIKE THAT, BUT THEY HAVE BEEN VERY EVENTFUL YEARS AND I'D JUST LIKE TO CHART SOME OF THOSE THINGS AND WHAT WE HAVE DONE ABOUT THEM.

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TAKE FOR INSTANCE 1987, MY FIRST YEAR HERE, THE AUTUMN OF 1987, THE 'STOCK MARKET CRASH' NOT SOMETHING PRODUCED IN HONG KONG BUT SOMETHING WHICH HAPPENED ELSEWHERE IN THE WORLD WE HAD TO DEAL WITH - A GREAT CRISIS. AND WE DEALT WITH IT, AND WE DEALT WITH IT QUICKLY AND WE PUT IN PLACE ARRANGEMENTS WHICH ARE NOW WORKING SO THAT WE HAVE A MUCH BETTER SYSTEM FOR RUNNING OUR STOCK MARKET. AND, AS EVERYBODY KNOWS, THE MARKET HAS RECOVERED, NOT JUST IN THE WAY IT ORGANISES ITSELF BUT AS A MARKET. IT IS NOW OVER 6,000 POINTS, IT REACHED A RECORD HIGH LAST FRIDAY. JUST BEFORE THE CRASH IN OCTOBER 1987 IT WAS SOMEWHERE NEAR 4,000 POINTS. SO THERE IS ONE CRISIS MET, HANDLED, DEALT WITH, SUCCESSFUL AS A RESULT.

/OR TAKE