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Jake Van Der Kamp

I CAME TO Hong Kong too late to see Sir Jack Cater at the peak of his career. I arrived in 1979 and Sir Jack had by then made his name with the Independent Commission Against Corruption.

But I came to know him later and Sir Jack, who died on Friday at the age of 84, was the British colonial servant at his best, a principled, strong-willed and forthright man whose views I always wanted to hear and whose insights I always valued.

I came to know him in his retirement when he took up a position as a non-executive director at HG Asia, a stockbroking company of which I was research director.

We gave Sir Jack an office of his own and he would come and go as he pleased but he was always to be seen there on Fridays with his copy of the Economist, which he read from cover to cover.

He was never so absorbed, however, that he would not put down that magazine instantly when someone wanted a word with him.

Mostly we did so to ask if he would see visiting clients for a discussion of the political background to the Hong Kong market. With the 1997 handover coming up, they valued what assurances he could give them in an uncertain environment.

But they did well to mind themselves in these meetings. I recall one fund manager who interrupted Sir Jack a little abruptly, only a little, to say he did not quite agree with Sir Jack's account of some past event. I cannot remember quite what it was.

The man got the Sir Jack treatment, bushy eyebrows pulled together a little, a hint of frost and a voice of authority - 'I am telling you what happened.'

Nothing more needed saying. The fund manager wilted, as so many policemen must have done when considering what Sir Jack's ICAC might think of questionable events in their careers. It takes a man of authority to clean up the corruption that plagued our police in the 1960s and 1970s, and Sir Jack had it in full measure.

But when I call him to mind now, it is not with frost and authority in his bearing. It is with a grin on his face. He laughed easily and was disposed to kindliness, not hauteur.

His reminiscences were captivating. One of his early tasks as a colonial servant was to do something about the design of inshore fishing boats that were forced to venture further offshore and increasingly foundered, drowning their crews.

Sir Jack called in a naval architect from Britain and together they worked out the design of a soundly built, high-prowed fishing boat with heavy wooden slats that could readily be installed along their open sides in rough weather. It is a design that has withstood the test of time. Go to the Aberdeen harbour and you will see it is how all the fishing boats are still built today.

I remember Sir Jack telling me the story and then gazing into the distance with a happy smile on his face. I rather think he was even prouder of that achievement than he was of the ICAC.

He could also be reserved about his career and generally was when discussing the ICAC, although there was always a touch of fire in his eyes when the subject came up. Fighting police corruption was the big struggle of his career and he won. He never boasted of it. That hint of fire told all.

But he could occasionally be entirely forthright when talking about old colleagues. I had reason to ask him once for his opinion of an underling who has now risen to a very high position in the Hong Kong government.

'Bright,' he replied. 'Bright. But lazy!'

I have since come to recognise that it was a precise thumbnail sketch of the man's character.

Sir Jack also showed that precision of thought and expression when commenting on my work. I made it my task every month to write a detailed investment review of every one in turn of the 10 Asian stock markets that HG Asia covered. When Hong Kong's turn came up one time, I sent him my review before publishing it.

It came back the next day with concise marginal annotations in a neat and clear hand of the sort that schools no longer seem to emphasise. Every one of his comments was to the point and I found myself revising all the paragraphs on which he had remarked, not because it was Sir Jack who had made the annotations but because in each instance he was right.

I did not see him in the last few years of his life. He was increasingly frail. I must say anyway that I prefer to remember him as I knew him when his wit was still sharp and the pride of his battles and achievements still keen.

Rest in peace, Sir Jack. I only came to know you later in your life but I shall always value the time you gave me.



When you see a fishing boat, spare a thought for Sir Jack Cater