XN000022-1993-05-04 — Page 33

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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