A matchbox that lasted

Strange to say but it is 25 years ago this summer that the High Court Building in Queensway opened for business.  Denys Roberts the then Chief Justice and a major mover behind the building’s conception called it an upturned matchbox.  That was a good, if rather ungrateful, description of the outside but the interior was a marvel to those who were used to the Dickensian precincts of the old Supreme Court (currently housing Legco) in Jackson Road and the French Mission Building at Battery Path.  With spacious lobbies, comfortable chairs, light Scandinavian wood and great acoustics, the new building was a tremendous improvement.  We had to find something to complain about, of course, and that turned out to be the lifts.

In those days the masters sat in the lower levels of the building, at a long table in their generous chambers with a view of the park at the back – so much more pleasant than the windowless holes on the 2nd Floor in which they are now obliged to sit.  The building opened before the signs were in place which gave me a good excuse for being late for my first appearance at Master Hansen’s room. He’s now a High Court judge in New Zealand.  A few weeks later I had the privilege of arguing, and losing, one of the first appeals to be heard at Queensway after the Court of Appeal decamped there from a spell back at Jackson Road.

Over the ensuing quarter century “the new Supreme Court Building” has undergone a name change and a refit of its public areas yet it remains essentially the same.  We all still moan about the lifts but six large cars to serve 18 floors ought to be quite sufficient.  The problem is not that the lifts are slow: it’s that the demand for them is concentrated at certain times of the day.  The solution lies in staggering the times of court sitting.  Why not start some trials at 9.45, others at 10 and still others at 10.15, with correspondingly varied times of morning, lunch and afternoon adjournments?

To church at Easter

On Easter Sunday I did something most unusual for me: went to church.

It was actually doubly unusual because we were there to see the baptism into the Roman Catholic faith of a Moslem friend.  Mind you, he’s been married to a Catholic for 30 years and has been attending the church for ages so it isn’t that surprising.

Nevertheless, it couldn’t happen so easily everywhere. Last year in Malaysia we met a lawyer who had spent weeks detained without charge under the Internal Security Act. What he had done wrong the police would not say. But, a devout Catholic, he had recently helped a Moslem to convert to Christianity.

Anyway, the scene was the pleasant, modern, spacious Catholic church at Sheung Shui.  Tai tai often attends services there; so does the retired Judge Rattigan.  Occasionally Donald Tsang turns up from nearby Fanling Lodge, as did Chris Patten before.

It was a big occasion because it was also the last service by the priest, a large beaming Mexican with incomprehensible English.  He was assisted by his successor, a small beaming Mexican with incomprehensible English.  Apparently the Irish and the Italians, for so long the suppliers of papist priests, have given up this export. The music was supplied by two Filipinas with guitars backed by a choir of happy compatriots, swaying to and fro.  The words were projected onto a screen at the front.  It all felt a long way from the organs and hymn books of my C of E youth.  Indeed it felt quite a long way from normal Hong Kong.

There was however one aspect which operated with local efficiency.  When it came to the mass, the congregation swiftly formed two parallel lines and progressed smoothly forwards.  Each was served by a priest and an assistant, first with a wafer, then with the wine, then returned smartly to their pew. The whole process took barely ten minutes.

Yuen Long

Our other Easter outing was to Yuen Long.  Famous for the light rail and the Tang clan, Yuen Long is a place that has been transformed in recent years yet remains strangely unknown by most in Hong Kong.  I suppose this is because it is not really on the way to anywhere.

The transformation from sleepy market town to teeming city began with the development of the new town around it, including the notorious Tin Shui Wai to the north.  The light rail was built to serve the new areas as well as the old market.  Then Route 3 and the West Rail line were constructed to link Yuen Long to Kowloon and Hong Kong island.  An industrial estate was added to sustain local employment.  And of course the opening of the border increased the momentum.

Now Yuen Long has half a million people – some say more, but either way it’s a sizeable city, as populous as Leeds or Liverpool.  Give it a try next time you are considering a day out.

Malcolm Merry is Associate Professor of Law at the University of Hong Kong and a Hong Kong barrister. He is the author of Hong Kong Tenancy Law (4th ed, LexisNexis 2003) and co-author (with Paul Kent) of Building Management in Hong Kong (2nd ed, LexisNexis 2008).