[:en]MacLehose, Crawford Murray[:zh]麥理浩 [:] – Hong Kong history 香港歷史

BLACK AND WHITE PHOTO. Hong Kong governor Sir Murray Maclehose (L) meets Chinese Vice-premier Deng Xiaoping (R)during his visit to Beijing on 29 March 1979. This visit begins the official talks about Hong Kong handover.

Crawford Murray MacLehose, Baron MacLehose of Beoch KT GBE KCMG KCVO DL (Chinese: 麥理浩, 16 October 1917 – 27 May 2000) was a British politician, diplomat and the 25th Governor of Hong Kong, from 1971 to 1982. He was the longest-serving governor of the colony, with four successive terms in office.

Early life and career

Murray MacLehose was born in Glasgow, Scotland in October 1917 as the second child of Hamish Alexander MacLehose and Margaret Bruce Black. He attended Rugby School in 1931 and Balliol College, Oxford.

During World War II, while under the cover of being the British vice-consul, MacLehose trained Chinese guerrillas to operate behind Japanese lines to carry out sabotage.

MacLehose was principal private secretary to Foreign Secretary George Brown in the late 1960s.

His career almost stalled when he left a copy of a confidential telegram in a bank in 1967. The document, from British Prime Minister Harold Wilson to US President Lyndon B. Johnson concerning the Vietnam War, was turned in by another British diplomat who found it. Wilson and Brown prevented an investigation of this security breach, because they appreciated Maclehose’s ability, thus saving his career. MacLehose was appointed the British Ambassador to South Vietnam in 1967.[3]

Before being appointed as Governor of Hong Kong in 1971, he served in the British Embassy in Beijing and as Ambassador to Denmark.
Governor of Hong Kong

MacLehose became Governor of Hong Kong in November 1971, holding this position until May 1982, making him Hong Kong’s longest-serving governor; his 10 years and 6 months in office exceeding Sir Alexander Grantham’s previous record by one month. He was widely and affectionately known as “Jock the Sock”, in reference both to his Scottish heritage and to his name, ‘hose’ being an old word meaning sock or stocking.

MacLehose stood well over six feet tall and looked every inch the benign and genial colonial governor.[citation needed] He avoided wearing his gubernatorial uniform, as he felt very ill at ease in it.

A diplomat with a British Labour Party background MacLehose introduced a wide range of reforms during his time in office that laid the foundation of modern Hong Kong as a cohesive, self-aware society. He had Chinese recognised as an official language for communication, alongside English. He greatly expanded welfare and set up a massive public housing programme. He rooted out corruption, with the creation of the ICAC. By establishing the District Boards, he greatly improved government accountability.[5] He oversaw the construction of the Mass Transit Railway, Hong Kong’s transportation backbone, and other major infrastructure projects. On his watch, community and arts facilities were expanded, and public campaigns, such as against litter and violent crime, were introduced.

These changes required approval from the UK Government Treasury for increased expenditure, and it was against some opposition that, in his first two years in office, Hong Kong government expenditure grew by over 50%.

Hong Kong sovereignty negotiations
Transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong

In 1979, MacLehose raised the question of Britain’s 99-year lease of the New Territories (an area that encompasses all territories north of Boundary Street on the Kowloon Peninsula), with Deng Xiaoping. The talks, although inconclusive at the time, eventually involved top British Government officials and paved the way for the handover of the Hong Kong in its entirety, including those parts ceded to the UK in perpetuity, to the People’s Republic of China on 1 July 1997.
Post-governorship and later life

After his governorship ended in 1982, MacLehose was made a life peer as Baron MacLehose of Beoch, of Maybole in the District of Kyle and Carrick and of Victoria in Hong Kong, later that year. In 1983, MacLehose was made a Knight of the Thistle. In 1992 he was awarded an honorary doctorate (LLD) by the University of Hong Kong When he was 80 years old, he attended the handover ceremony of Hong Kong in 1997.

MacLehose died in Ayrshire, Scotland in May 2000.

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伯克的麥理浩男爵，^[a]KT，GBE，KCMG，KCVO，DL^[?]（英语：Crawford Murray MacLehose, Baron MacLehose of Beoch，1917年10月16日－2000年5月27日），英國資深外交官及殖民地官員，1971年至1982年出任第25任香港總督，他的任期前後長達10年半，先後獲四度續任，是香港歷史上在任時間最長的港督。

外交官出身的麥理浩雖然缺少殖民地的行政管理經驗，但沒有殖民地包袱的他，反而被普遍認為是歷史上最傑出和最受市民愛戴的港督之一，輿論更以「麥理浩時代」（MacLehose Years）形容他在任港督的日子。麥理浩任內推動大刀闊斧的改革，使香港的社會面貌出現深刻的改變。他的改革涉及房屋、廉政、教育、醫療、福利、基礎建設、交通、經濟和社會各個範疇，十年建屋計劃、開發新市鎮、創立廉政公署、九年免費教育、設立郊野公園、興建地下鐵路和地方行政改革等重要的政策和建設，紛紛在他任內推出。這些政策不單直接改善市民的生活水平，還進一步為殖民地政府在市民心目中建立起正面形象，同時也增強了香港人對香港的歸屬感。

麥理浩見證了香港的經濟起飛，任內經濟增長之強勁為開埠以來所未有。在他的協助下，香港由原本以輕工業為主導，逐步轉型以電子工業、金融業和商業為重心，一躍而成「亞洲四小龍」之一，為香港的繁榮穩定和日後成為亞洲國際金融中心及國際大都會，奠定重要基石。此外，財政司夏鼎基爵士在麥理浩任內提出的「積極不干預主義」，也成為港府的理財哲學、以及麥理浩在施政上的依歸。

不過，外界也有意見批評麥理浩始終未能完全解決房屋不足、大學學位不足、教育質素參差、貧富不均和交通擠塞等核心問題，不少輿論也認為他未能快速應對任內接二連三的社會運動；至於在處理中國大陸非法入境者及越南難民來港的問題上，也引起不少爭論。

在中港關係方面，麥理浩改善了雙方自六七暴動以來的關係，他在1979年應邀訪問北京等地，成為二戰後首位官式訪問中國的港督。訪華期間，他會見了中共領導人鄧小平，席間得悉鄧小平堅決要在1997年或之前收回香港，結果這次會面為後來的香港前途談判揭開序幕。麥理浩返港後擔心引起恐慌，隻字不提鄧小平堅持收回香港的言論，只引述鄧小平「叫香港投資者放心」，但為免觸動中方神經，他放棄原擬推動民主政制改革的計劃。