Bulletin Autumn 1988

obtaining the accountancy qualification took Mr. Poon out o f banking and into accountancy. In this new profession, he worked hard to beat the then closed shop system and became one o f the first Chinese qualified accountants. Having come through the very restrictive ap prenticeship system the hard way, the unselfish Mr. Poon wanted to make things easier for those who came after him. He was one o f the pioneers o f the idea o f a Hong Kong Society o f Accountants w ith legally defined responsibilities and w ith control over qualifying examinations and professional standards. He realized in the late 1960's that as Hong Kong was on its way to becoming a financial centre, the ac countancy profession could not rise to the new chal lenge w ithout the establishment o f a professional body. In 1973 ， after a great deal o f hard work on Mr. Poon's part, this long cherished goal was achieved. The Hong Kong Society o f Accountants came into being and Mr. Poon became Vice-President for the first two years, then President for 1975 and 1976. Today, thanks to the efforts o f Mr. Poon and his col leagues some fifteen years ago, accountancy students, and there are some 12,500 this year, can take all their examinations and qualify in Hong Kong under the auspices o f the Society. The shop is no longer closed. Mr. Chancellor, had Peter Poon Wing-cheung been a mercenary man, he might have been many times richer today. But it is not the temperament o f this public-spirited man to pursue private gain. Indeed a man who is possessed o f a fertile mind and quick thinking, as Mr. Poon no doubt is, cannot be satisfied w ith success in merely one field o f human endeavour. It should come as no surprise, therefore, to people who know Peter Poon Wing-cheung that, while working as an accountant, he obtained in 1961 the LLB degree from the University o f London and that he followed this fifteen years later w ith the LLM in 1976. This was done, he said, 'to extend the mind'. It is only natural that a man w ith such obvious and multifarious talents should be drafted into public service by the Government, and he was. Mr. Poon's list o f public duties runs into several pages and there is only space in a short citation to name the most noteworthy. He served twelve years in the Securities Commission from 1974 to 1986 ， eight years in the Commodities Trading Commission from 1977 to 1985. He was a member o f the Securities Review Committee which had recommended many changes for the improvement o f the regulation o f Hong Kong's securities industry. He has been a member o f the Legislative Council since 1983 and is a director o f the Hang Lung Bank and the Overseas Trust Bank. I f Mr. Poon seems to be associated w ith banks that had once got into trouble, Mr. Chancellor, this is because he was called-in to sort things out after the insolvency had come to light and not because he was in any way involved in their affairs before. Mr. Poon's benefic association w ith the Univer sity began in 1972 when he joined the United College Board o f Trustees. He was elected Vice-Chairman o f the Board in 1983 and became a member o f the University Council in the same year. As University Treasurer since 1985 ， Mr. Poon has been quick, straightforward and decisive. To quote T.S. Eliot, he was 'not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be'. To misquote T.S. Eliot, he was, to both Government and University, always ‘. .. glad to be o f use, politic, cautious and meticulous; fu ll o f high sentence,. .. [but never] obtuse.' For his service to the community, Mr. Poon was ap pointed a Justice o f the Peace in 1976 and was made a Member o f the British Empire in 1983. Mr. Chancellor, for his pioneering work in ac countancy education, for his dedicated and illustrious public service, for the excellent counsel he has given the University over the years, I present the Honourable Peter Poon Wing-cheung, accountant, academically qualified lawyer, legislator, reluctant banker, reluctant politician but keen table-tennis player and jazz pianist, University Treasurer and, as o f two days ago, Vice- Chairman-Elect o f the University Council, for ad mission to the degree o f Doctor o f Laws, honoris causa. 6