Sir John Cowperthwaite, Hong Kong's Financial Secretary from 1961 to 1971 passed away on 21 January at the age of 90. A firm proponent of laissez-faire government, Sir John held strong views on the compilation and use of statistics.
I joined Government on 12 May 1971 as a statistician, having spent about a year as a Demonstrator in economics at the University of Hong Kong after graduation. I had the privilege of being the person appointed to fill the only new post of statistician created that year in the Census and Statistics Department to assist in a new initiative to do research in relation to national accounts statistics. To me then the job as a statistician, and particularly one specialising in national accounts, was the best alternative to what was very much a failed attempt to pursue an academic career in economics, since the economist grade was then still non-existent in Government.
One of the first tasks given to me was to prepare display charts identifying gaps in national account statistics in Hong Kong and showing how by filling those gaps we could develop a better understanding of the functioning of the economy. These charts were to be displayed at prominent places in the office of the Department then located in the International Building in the western part of Central. Apparently there were to be a number of VIP visits to the Department, and the new initiative on national accounts statistics was to be an important item for discussion with the VIPs. With the typical naïve passion of someone embarking on a new career I dutifully designed a few charts, the details of which I have long forgotten, but the theme, I can still recall, included a subtle message that it may not be in the public interest for Government to be an ostrich when it came to statistics on the economy. Little did I know that one of the VIPs to visit the Department was the then retiring Financial Secretary Sir John Cowperthwaite.
He did not really chastise me on seeing those charts when he toured around the office. But I was left feeling distinctly uncomfortable, standing next to the charts, paralysed by his piercing look and equally sharp questions, after receiving that towering figure of over six feet with his somewhat chubby face. Indeed, how would those numbers help govern Hong Kong better? Wasn't there a saying (Marquis d'Argenson in 1858) that: Pour gouverner mieux, il faudrait gouverner moins (In order to govern better, we ought to govern less)? And wasn't there the other saying (also d'Argenson) that: Laissez faire, telle devrait etre la devise de toute puissance publique (Laissez faire should be the motto of every public authority)? These were of course difficult issues for anybody, not least a fresh graduate aspiring to be a practising economist. It took me a long time and much soul-searching to recover; by then Sir John had already retired and been replaced by someone who was a lot more sympathetic towards statistics, having also started his career as a statistician. It was during that soul-searching period that I was asked belatedly by the then Commissioner for Census and Statistics, Kenneth Topley, with a grin behind his beard that was almost cunning, to read carefully the record of the Budget debate on 25 March 1970. Therein lay the origin of my first and invaluable lesson in public office - do your homework - and the origin of my first job in Government.
An excerpt from the speech by Sir John Cowperthwaite in the Legislative Council on 25 March 1970 is attached for those interested in reading it. Although he was against the compilation of national accounts statistics and was of the opinion that "national accounts are a proper subject for academic rather than official research", as the last sentence of the excerpt suggests, he did agree to "give ... assistance ... in furtherance of such research", to the extent of allowing the Census and Statistics Department to employ an additional statistician for this work. Thank you, Sir John, for opening the doors for me to pursue a satisfying career.
Joseph Yam
2 February 2006
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