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OurllewLeaders The Foreign
CorresPondents Club
has announced the results of the election of President and the Boa¡d of Governors
of the Club who will
serve as
officers until the next Annual General Meeting next MaY. PhiliP Bowring of the Far Eastern Economic Review is the Club's new President and Sandra Burton of Time Magazine is now our First Vice President. The Second Vice President is David Bell of the Swire GrouP. An illustrious group of governors, to
of the Asian Wall St¡eet Journal headi¡g say the least, with Cheah Cheng Hye
the list of
CorresPondent Member
Governors; Peter Mackler of Agence France Presse, Chris Pritchell of Reu-
ters, Paul Síllitoe with the FEER'
Michael Malik, ditto; Ian Findlay Brown
Newsweek and Graham Hillier from Reuters. Our new Journalist Member Governor is Alan Hargreaves, a voice known to all as he tells us where out money's going from RTHK. The Associate Member Governors
with
are three: PeneloPe BYrne from
the
Hong Kong Tourist Association, David Miller from USIS and Russell Cawthorne with Golden Commercial Company, Ltd.
We're
in your hands, ladies
and
gentlemen, and the best of Hong Kong luck to you during your time of service to us.
We made a Profit last (end-March)
relatively modest given turnover of HK$12.5 million. As we exist to serve members not maximise Profits we should be happy to stay on our present
path for the coming Year. But that might not be so easy. In the past year we have been helped bY stable food
prices, lower wage inflation and higher
entrance
fee income. And we
have
helped ourselves by reducing administrative costs by doing our own billing and
accounting, holdtrg down wage and fixed outgoings and taking a tough line with slow payers. Meanwhile catering turnover has continued to increase from HK$7.5 to 8.4 million.
policies are pursued, it should
With this issue the FCC is resuming the publication of "The Correspondeirt" which has been greatly missed lrl the past 10 months. Although less elabörate, than its predecsser, the present .newsletter will serve its purpose of resforing a link among the members. .; ' " cf your success newslelter the This is which depends largely on your support and contribution. If you have any news about other members past and present, please pass it on to "The Correspondent". May
Treasurer'sReport year. That is cause for satisfaction but not complacency. Our operating surplus was HK$663 ,562, which sounds fine till we recollect that the previous year we made a loss of HK$841,558. It is also
Dear Members,
be
possible to keeP out of the red.
Meanwhile the growth of the Development Fund and the depreciation of our HK$6 million investment in our
I also take this opportunity to congratulate and welcome our incoming President and members of the Board of Governors, many of whom also contributed selflessly to the service of the Club as past Governors. Let us wish them continued successes in making the FCC second to none in Hong Kong. Edward Tseng
premises should provide a cash cushion against future unce¡tainties of tenure.
The Development Fund now stands at HK$ I .8 million with income of $848,000 in the past year and outgoings
of HK$106,000 - the main items being final fees on Lower Albert Road, and the soundproofing of the main bar. Depreciation of fixed assets has continued be a major burden, absorbing HK$1.14 million this past year. But the other side of that is the build up of our cash resources. A1l told, net cutrent assets - excluding the Development
Fund - rose HK$2.3 million to HK$4.1 million during the year. This is fine except it leads to ba¡side demands that "as we've got all that money why don't we spend it". The answer is: We are on
The coming year may be more difficult. Productivity increases and savings on things like electricily are an even keel - but no more. And the getting harder to achieve, and replace- cash build-up reflects our real situation, ment of fittings which were new when not a miserþ provision for some theorewe moved to Lower Albert Road are tical rainy day. becoming more costly. But if existing
President
From the Editor
The Correspondent has at last been resurrected and members will be receiving the publication each month from now on. We would like to thank Arthur Hacker fo¡ his handsome design for the newsletter's masthead and Bert Gallardo for laying it out so professiona1ly.
The object of the Correspondent is simply to inform members what is happening at the FCC. We welcome members' news about their activities, photos, etc. Congratulations to our new President, Philip Bowring and the Board of Governors and big thank you to the outgoing President Eddie Tseng and his Board of Governo¡s. Let's try to make life as easy as possible for them.
-
Cynthia Hydes
Good
Lord!
The Çlub was honoured to welcome
Lord Wilson, better known to most of us as Harold Wilson, as lunch speaker
on May 13. The event was sold out within minutes of bookings opening.
For those who can remember the selfdeprecating wit and statesmanly wisdom of then octogenerian Harold MacMillan when he spoke at the old Club in the
late
seventies,
the performance of
69-year old Wilson waì peihaps something of a disappointment. But Wilson, the longest serving peacetime premier
since Gladstone, was amiable
and
amusing and trotted through his speechease of an old political pro. Wilson had been in China promoting the business of the ICE Group, of which
with the
he is a director. Unfortunately the demeanour of some of the other ICE personnel did not endear them to certain Club members. (Brian Tisdall took them to task in a column in the SCMP). But
Abserìt Friends Lurrch
WASHINGTON-Fifteen journalists and government officials gathered at Marshall's Saloon January 24 for tl'e second Absent Friends lunch to ¡emember the life and death of Dick Hughes. Wendell Merick and Keyes Beech
saluted Hughes in separate toasts. Present at the lunch, in addition to Merick and Beech were former collea,gues Hal Champeau, Carobel Daniel, Art Dommen, Neal Donnelly, Henry Hartzenbusch, Bill Jordan, Pat Killen, Edward Neilan, Ross Monro, Ed Robinson, John Schultz, Vicki Wakefield and Eddie Wu.
Most of the attendees are present or of the Foreign Correspondents Club of Hong Kong.
past members
HKFCC GolÍ Society Trip to Bangkok,
April'85.
Was
Lord
Wilson willing? Could
that apaft, it was a
be.
successful and
enjoyable lunch.
On the subject of lunches
and
yesterday's men: Sir Philip Haddon-
(Photo courtesy of Hu van Es )
is speaking to the Club on May 30. And we hope we may be able to
Cave
get Jimmy Carter, who is reported set to spread the good work in Hongkong.
Byrne and Roger Ingoldby.
After years of study and debate, the club has at last computerised. It's a
much smaller undertaking than some of
the rather grandiose, integrated systems proposed
in the past. But we deliberate-
ly kept the budget small with a view to expanding in future. The hardwa¡e is an IBM PC-XT, which comes with a largecapacity ha¡d disk and a floppy-disk drive, plus printer. The softwa¡e runs general and members' ledgers, and is highly adaptable. We shall be running pa¡allel accounting until October this year and you should ¡eceive your first computergenerated bill in November. In 1983 we moved our accounting inhouse and did the same with billing in early 1984, probably achieving approxi-
mately the savings that would
have
resulted from computerisation. However, the decision to go for a microcomputer should bring additional bene-
fits. For one thing, the lack of office space prohibits the employment of more staff; but computerised accounts will free existing staff to attend to their original duties
- principally,
assisting
members of the club and thei¡ guests. Also, it will now be easy to group members according to thei¡ interests when this is desi¡ed, for example listing
all Ruritanian bridge players and their phone numbe¡s at the punch of a key provided you all complete and return the biodata forms we recently sent out.
FCC members were surveyed on which other clubs they belonged to, Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club and Aberdeen Boat Club would appear hþh on the list. Which helps explain why the annual Easter exodus from the club has been even more pronounced in recent years - our intrepid sailors are all off racing across the South China Sea to the phiiipp1nes.
In odd-numbered years the
race is to
San Fernando i¡r La Union provi¡ce of Luzon Island
-
a coastal resort.
the Hong Kong University lecturer who presents a current affairs program on local TV, won the latest epic in his relatively Stephen Davies,
small Yamaha 30-footer Fiddler's Green
(that mystic sailor's haven whe¡e
the
women are easy and the ale is free). At the other end of the scale, US
A typical night at the Bar
.
Cheoy
Lee-built 63-foot ketch Rapíd Transit eventually smoked home to take the closely-contested line honours battle in 4 days, 6 hours, 2 minutes, a slowish time for the 480-mile ¡ace that was affècted by very light breezes south of
Taiwan-garrisoned Pratas Reef.
Smith's deep freezes and fridges, however, kept fellow FCC members D¡ Alan Btrge, Asian Boating Monthty pubLisher Bruce Maxwell, and accountant Charles Dickson happy through the hot weather. Also among the silverware was typesetter Tom Earl, skippering Old China Hand pub proprietor Ian Watson's Far¡ 38 Intrigue, with that evergreen ..young executive" Keith Shaltespeare looking after the pointed end. They had the upper hand on the race's othe¡ Fa¡¡ 3g,
all members unidentifiable . . .
11.
The latter yacht was brought back from San Fernando by the Far Eastern E conomic
Review's Mike Westlake,,úho
into his return voyage crew. Radio position reports ,during
tax consultant Charlie Smith's
Scoundrel, which belongs
the hunt once more, as did crown counsel Fred Whitehouse with Nick Adams in the venerable Swan 36 Ceil
had iaveigled, FEER's Philip Bouiring (FCC Vice, President) and Bob defi,
\{hoVêarsÏ\voHats? If
Database's Les Collings had his Taiwan-built Holland 42 Møraucler in the fray, and govemment architect "wee" Jimmy Farquar was aboa¡d Race Committee Chai¡man Vic Locke's exSingapore sloop Bugis. Some sailors' shanties he composed en route were "performed" in San Fernando. D is c o v e ry infl ight magazine publisher Steve Ellis was helming second-placed Bimblegumbie (on HKYA handicap), and Sue and John Costello had thei¡ Iive-aboard Cape North 43 Pasaderø in
to
Barry
I
,the
race were relayed from ex-SCiØp Mana'large Cheoy Lee motorsailer Gloria Maris to
ging Director Gerry Pilgrim's
RHKYC ÍÌanager Fred "FCC" Schokking, a forme¡ FCC board member (his initials are "FCC").
The press officer, SCMp sub-edito¡
Ian Whalley, originally entered
his
Yamaha 30 Press Gang, a sistership of the winning yacht, but he eventually opted to sail aboa¡d the larger Tsunami instead. - By Bruce Maxwell
\-eedHeto? A new organrsation
set up
to
has
ré!äntlf
been
provide help and advice for correspondents who are on the road or beilg transferred to new posts. It is called the Inte¡national Foreign Correspondents' Association, is based in London and run by former UPI staffer
NAT GIBSON, it already has represent-
atives in more than a dozen countries, most of whom are wives of correspondents or reti¡ed pressmen. It costs just f,25 to join. Members pay for services, which range from tax advice to house renting to collecting children from airports to fixing interviews and discount on fares with some airlines. IFCA is a commercial organisation but its services are cheaper than available elsewhere, and many are unique. Diplomats and businessmen are also eligible
to join. If you want to know contact Mary Thomas, 5-97
456.
more
Edward Tseng was born in Canton, his wife is Fukinese. They met while they were both studying at the renowned Yenching (Catholic) University in
FCCGoes
il)I)
Beijing.
national dialing.
one-time chief editor of the Hong Kong Times (Chinese language). Although he has now ¡eti¡ed, the paper retains him as a consultant. For many years prior to his job with the Times, he was a senior editor of the Central News Agency and it was during his time with CNS that he cove¡ed the
THE FCC has successfully applied to Hong Kong Telephone for one of the first of its state-of-the-art Cardphones, which will at last give us IDD interCardphone
- being installed in
a
soundproof box in the reading room will overcome the problem oÏ billing.
The phone works not with coins but with the insertion of Phone Cards which will be on sale at the club during all times it is staffed. The cards come in $25, $50 and $100 values and are store-value. As you make your call a digital display shows you how much you have left on your card. The installation of the Cardphone is the first f¡uit of a search by the board for ways of offering club members more professional services. Many members who use the downstairs facilities for making phone calls have expressed the wish for a soundproofbooth for confidential calls. At the same time (for years, in fact) members have vaguely grumbled that it would be nice to be able to make international calls, but there has never been a way this could be done not open to abuse. Now Hong Kong Telephone has the technology and we are getting
only the second Cardphone to
be
irstalled in Central after the one in the Teiepìrone shop in Princes Building, whioh is only open from 9 am to 4,30 pnl.
He is a well known journalist
Vbddings Weddings:
Lim, Hongkong correspon-
Teresa and
Korean Wa¡. The Tsengs have two sons, both
of
whom were educated in England and now work there. Vincent is working
as a computer consultant and Gerry, an
dent
of
Singapore's Business Times,
married Nick Seawa¡d, late of Seatrade, on April 27. Following the ceremony at St. John's Cathedral, a reception was held at the FCC. After a honeymoon, they are moving to Singapore where Nick will be working for the Far Eastern Economic Review while Teresa will stay wit]n Business Times.
All Cromie, correspondent for the (now notorious) Sydney Morning Herøld and Business Reyiêw l|eekly, married Nick Fulcher, advertisíng copywriter at Doyle Dane Bernbach on June
architect.
14.
Ilewllembers
Tam Kam Biu
APRIL & MAY 1985 JOURNALIST
Reuters Ltd. Lisa Rogers (Ms.) Sheraton Hotel
The Hollywood Reporter
Ram S. Kimatrai J. Kimatrai & Sons Ltd.
Robert Howarth
Wilfred Wong
Terry Boyce
S.C.M.P.
HK Government
Hui Sun
Ms. Vicky Brooke
Freelance
Hyatt Hotel
Simon Martin
Adrian J. Peirse Vo cational Training Council
S.C.M.P.
We are building the booth and the telephone will be installed free of
ASSOCIATE
Andrew Seaton British Trade Commission
traffic.
Ken Ueno IBJ Leasing HK Ltd.
Alfred Yeung
Ms. Charlotte Cochrane Price Waterhouse
Clarke Mallery
charge on the understanding that it will generate a reasonable amount of
Let's see members Put their Phone
Cards where their mouths are!
Of course there is alwaYs a snag somewhere: to use the soundProof booth for local calls members will have to pay - $ 1.
We hope to be able to rePort on more improvements downstairs in the
next issue.
-
MM
Anniversary
Mr. and Mrs Edward Tseng
celebrated their 40th Wedding Anniversary at the
Foreign Correspondents' Club on April 8. The celebrations were attended by 59 guestsj hrgely Mr Tseng's fellow journalists and well known business personalities.
, ,,,
Fortune Group of Companies Ogilvy & Mather Advertising
B.J. Paris
Federation of French Mechanical Industries
Ms. Mary Higgias Graham & James
Ms. Alene Freidenrich T¡adetravel (HK) Ltd.
C.J. Rosenquist Jardine Logica Systems Ltd.
Kazuyuki Masuda I.B.J. Asia Ltd.
Alcott Liu
William H Glover Personal Financial Consultants Ltd.
Moti Techchandani Indo Arab Int'l Ltd.
Ruben Kraiem Paul, Weiss, Refkind, Warton & Garrison
R.M. Stables Time Magazine
AlcottKPLiu&Co.
-