No_3_March_and_April__1950 — Page 15

PERSONALITIES

PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT OFFICIALS WHO HAVE RECENTLY RETIRED

RALPH S. W. PATERSON, O.B.E., M.C.

Mr. Paterson is leaving Hong Kong in retirement after 26 years work in the Colony. His congenial personality and obliging disposition will be greatly missed not only by his colleagues in the Public Works Department, but by architects and others in the building industry who had од numerous occasions the opportunity of benefitting by his knowledge and his experience and his high sense of public duty.

"Pat", as he was affectionately known, whether acting as Technical Secretary to the Director of Public Works, as Engineer in the Buildings Ordinance Office or as Accommoda- tion Officer and Quartering Authority, always gave of his best. His helpfulness in any difficult situation and his willingness to dispense with the "red tape" when necessary to assist a worthy cause will long be remembered and appreciated.

He was * hard worker and never spared himself in the performance of his duty, and the effects of the service he rendered to the public of Hong Kong in his spheres of office will be felt for many years to come.

He served under five Directors of Public Works, Messrs. Creasy, Henderson, Purves, Kenniff and Boyce.

ANDREW NICOL, M. last. C. E., Chartered Civil Engineer,

A.M. Inst. Struct. E.

Mr. Nicol was not very well-known socially during his residence in the Colony, as his inclinations were of a more serious nature but he was liked and respected as a man of highest integrity.

Mr. Nicol was attached to the Port Works Office for many years as an Engineer and Executive Engineer, and during this period he was associated with the Praya East, Shamshuipo, Tai Kok Tsui, North Point and Kennedy Town Reclamations, and the construction of the Vehicular Ferry Pier, Mong Kok and Shamshuipo Ferry Piers, and Queen's Pier, also the Water Boat Dock and many other minor works. At the Airport, he worked on the Civil Airport Slipway, Hangar and Workshops.

Prior to the war, Mr. Nicol organised the P.W.D. Essential Services Corps. After the war, he returned to the Colony after a short recuperative leave and his knowledge of the Colony was most valuable in the work of reconstruction and rehabilitation.

He was at all times helpful to his colleagues, who appre- ciated his willingness to bear his share of responsibility, and he was a man of unbounded energy whose work was his chief interest.

He belongs to a very well-known family in the north of Scotland and served his pupilage with his uncle, the late R. Gordon Nicol, Esq., who was Engineer to the Harbour Commissioners, Aberdeen, and a consulting engineer to the Scottish Fisheries Board. His father, J. B. Nicol, Esq., is one of the leading architects in the north of Scotland.

ARTHUR EVELYN LISSAMAN, F. R. I. C. S., Chartered

Surveyor, M. I. Mun. E.

Mr. Lissaman arrived in Hong Kong in 1921

as Land Surveyor in the Public Works Department, and was appointed as Deputy Roads Engineer in 1927, remaining in that office until he was transferred as Acting Executive Engineer in the Drainage Office in 1935.

As engineer in the Roads Office, Mr. Lissaman was in charge of the building of Magazine Gap Road, and he was in no small measure responsible for the very good roads that we have in Hong Kong and in which we take a just pride.

He was also the inventor of the "Tarasmac" asphalted surfacing process, which proved to be more economical than other forms of road surfacing.

Mr. Lissaman was interned at Stanley during the Japanese occupation, and on his return was appointed Assistant Director of Public Works in May 1946.

Since the end of the war Mr. Lissaman has served on the Committee to investigate Bomb Damaged Sites, and also on the Wing On Fire Commission of 1948.

A

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In the field of sports, Mr. Lissaman is a keen golfer. member of the Hong Kong Golf Club, and one-time a mittee member, he has been captain of the Club and has won the championship. Last year, he was runner-up, The lay-cut of the Fanling Golf Course and the improvements effected to it are in a large measure due to the work and enthusiasm of Mr. Lissaman.

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