Honour for a man whose heart was in HK

Businessman and developer Sir Catchick Paul Chater - the 'Grand Old Man of Hong Kong' - was commemorated yesterday evening by the company he co-founded, Hongkong Land, as the firm marked its 120th anniversary.

And a relative added mystery to what may have happened to the Chater porcelain collection - long thought to have been sunk on a ship to Japan in the second world war.

At an unveiling ceremony at Chater House in Central, executives from Hongkong Land and Jardine Matheson, along with relatives of the company's co-founders - Chater and James Johnstone Keswick - unveiled a plaque and a bronze bust created by local sculptor Chu Tat-shing, whose works also include a Sun Yat-sen statue and Dance of Heaven and Earth at Kowloon Park.

'Paul Chater saw so much potential in this little island, he put his heart and soul into it,' said Liz Chater, 49, a distant cousin who lives in Totton in southern England. She began researching her ancestry nine years ago, and has found many facts and photos about her noted ancestor.

'After he died, there were plans to erect a statue of him in Statue Square, but nothing came about, so I'm very pleased to be in Hong Kong to see him recognised like this.'

An Armenian from Calcutta, Chater came to Hong Kong aged 18. He co-founded Hongkong Land with Keswick and spent 60 years working on reclamation projects, piers, roads, prayas, gardens and tramways.