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SCMP Reporter

Former governor Sir Robert Black, who took charge of the colony during an era of great social change, has died in hospital in Britain aged 93.

 Governor from 1958 to 1964, Sir Robert was best remembered for his dealings with an influx of mainland refugees.

 He pushed ahead with massive high-density housing developments as the population soared to three million by the time his term ended in 1964.

 'There was an enormous increase in population and he certainly tackled the problem extremely well. He knew exactly what he was doing,' said David Jeaffreson, who was then an official with the Commerce and Industry Department.

 The taste for property speculation developed during Sir Robert's term as more land was reclaimed and central buildings revamped.

 The former governor presided during a time when localisation became, if only in theory, a growing vogue in colonial governance.

 Between 1952 and 1961, the number of locally born senior government officials rose by 40 per cent.

 With the establishment of major infrastructure projects such as Kai Tak's famous runway, which opened in September 1958, and agreement for water supply from the mainland, London stopped overseeing the colony's Budget estimates, giving Hong Kong some financial independence.

 Robert Brown Black was born on June 3, 1906, in Stirlingshire, Scotland.

 Educated at George Watson's College and Aberdeen University, he entered the Colonial Administrative Service in 1930. He married Elsie Stevenson in 1937. After a short stint in Malaya, as it was then known, he was seconded to Trinidad in 1939.

 Sir Robert spent much of the war as a prisoner in Japan and was appointed deputy chief secretary in North Borneo in 1946 and Hong Kong colonial secretary in 1952.

 He was knighted in 1955 when he served briefly in Singapore as governor.

 On June 5, 1961, Sir Robert famously promised the residents of squatter settlement Rennie's Mill, Tseung Kwan O, that they could remain there indefinitely.

 The promise later become the subject of a legal battle when several residents, not born at the time of the pledge, argued they were entitled to compensation after the settlement was razed in 1995.

 After retirement from colonial service, the Blacks settled in southern England.

 'The simple fact was that he administered a well-established form of government and no change was necessary after he left,' said Mr Jeaffreson.

 Lady Black died in 1986. They had two daughters, Barbara and Kathryn.



Ex-governor Sir Robert Black dies at 93