|
Cowperthwaite's frugality with taxpayers' money extended to
himself. He was offered funds from the Hong Kong Executive
to do a much needed upgrade to his official residence, but
refused pointing out that since others in Hong Kong did not
receive that sort of benefit, he did not see why he should.
Cowperthwaite's hands off approach, and rejection of the in
vogue economic theory, meant he was in daily battle against
Whitehall and
Westminster. The British government insisted
on higher income tax in Singapore; when they told Hong Kong
to do the same, Cowperthwaite refused. He was an opponent of
giving special benefits to business: when a group of
businessmen asked him to provide funds for tunnel across
Hong Kong harbour, he argued that if it made economic sense,
the private sector would come in and pay for it. It was
built privately. His economic instincts were revealed in his
first speech as Financial Secretary: "In the long run, the
aggregate of decisions of individual businessmen, exercising
individual judgment in a free economy, even if often
mistaken, is less likely to do harm than the centralised
decisions of a government, and certainly the harm is likely
to be counteracted faster."
His ability to pursue policies which, at the time, were
deeply unfashionable, was helped by having supportive Hong
Kong Governors, Sir Robert Black and Sir David Trench, who
both had free market sympathies. Moreover, Cowperthwaite was
formidable at arguing his case: as Dennis Healey recalled:
"I always retired hurt from my encounters with the
redoubtable Financial Secretary."
From 1972 to 1981, Cowperthwaite was an advisor to Jardine
Flemming & Co in Hong Kong. He retired to St. Andrews with
his wife Sheila and was an active member of the Royal &
Ancient. For many years, he spent six months of the year
with his wife traveling the world visiting friends and
relatives. He was an old school civil servant and, much to
the frustration of economists, resisted requests to write an
autobiography about his time in Hong Kong, believing that
his duty was to serve, not to reveal the minutiae of
government business.
John James Cowperthwaite KBE OBE CMG, Financial Secretary of
Hong Kong, born 25 April 1915; died 21 January 2006.
|
Cowperthwaite read classics at St. Andrews and Christ's College,
Cambridge. While waiting to be called up by the Cameronians (Scottish
Rifles), he went back to St. Andrews to study economics. This Scottish
education imbibed him with the ideas of the Enlightenment, especially
the work of Adam Smith, who had been born nearby in Kirkcaldy. He was a
liberal in the 19th century sense, believing that countries should open
up to trade unilaterally. In 1941, he joined the Colonial Administrative
Service in Hong Kong. When it fell to the Japanese, he was seconded to
Sierra Leone as a district officer, before returning in 1946 to help the
colony's economic recovery. "Upon arrival," the Far Eastern Economic
Review put it, "he found it recovering quite nicely without him." He
quickly worked his way up the ranks and was made Financial Secretary in
1961, in charge of its economic policy for a decade.