Hongkong Standard
635, King's Road, North Point, Hongkong Telephone 616222-8
Member Audit Bureau of Circulations.
Page 8 Saturday, April 19, 1969
Fill Eates' cup to the brim
Now that the Queen has honoured our police by bestowing the title "Royal" on the Force, recognising the courage and quality of its men, especially in those dark days of 1967, perhaps it is not too much to hope for a knighthood for the man who led the Force into the eventual recognition.
The Queen's tribute, the honour of having Princess Alexandra as the honorary Commandant-General of the Police Forces. regular and auxiliary, public acclaim...the cup of joy for Mr. Edward Caston Eates is being filled. He will leave Hongkong today on leave prior to retirement this August with the satisfaction of knowing that his officers and men have been well rewarded.
A knighthood would fill his cup to the brim. It would be a further recognition many people here would like to see as an appreciation for a man whose service to the Colony and to the people had been both exemplary and distinguished.
It must be to Mr. Eates' satisfaction, too, that the Queen's recognition came at a time when the Force was under severe criticism by some people who choose to forget how it had stood steadfast and courageous for their security and protection at the time when they desperately needed both.
Mr. Eates joined the Hongkong Police Force in 1963 as an Assistant Commissioner, and was appointed Hongkong's seventh postwar Police Commissioner, on July 21, 1967. It was one of the worst times in Hongkong's history for anyone to inherit the leadership of the Police Force.
He soon showed he was the right man at the right time for the task of restoring peace to a turbulent city. Hongkong will not forget the way he handled the Communist agitators, and turned them away from aggression and terrorism by mixing toughness with restraint.
No wonder, therefore, that in January last year, Mr. Eates was awarded a CMG in the Queen's New Year honours an award he considered belonged to the Police Force as a whole.
Four months later, however, Mr. Eates shocked the public by announcing an earlier-than-usual retirement. Almost instantly, leading organisations and Colony leaders protested, and went into an intensive Keep Eates" campaign.
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It was a campaign which proved the esteem in which the people had for the Commissioner, but it did not change his mind. His retirement, he later explained, had long been considered.
Perhaps it is also in his cup of joy: the knowledge that he is leaving the Force in the capable hands of his successor, Mr. C. P. Sutcliffe, Hongkong's new Police Commissioner.
The Eates chapter closes as the MV Laos sails away with him, on board today. The Sutcliffe chapter opens a new era for-the Royal Hongkong Police Force.
(60)
Pe. putly
RECEIVED IN REGISTRY No.51
- 6 MAY 1969
HKLK14/8
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