Real estates were cheap during the riots. The company therefore offered low-interest home loans of $50,000 to each engineer, but technicians had no way to enjoy it. At that time, $20,000 was enough to buy an ordinary flat.

It was the colonial age, and as the company belonged to Taikoo it was supportive of the government. There was the reserve police, now called auxiliary police, and I was one of them. At that time, especially during the 1967 Riots, they needed us on call. The company allowed us to go, so we didn’t have to work. There were bombs everywhere; they were short of policemen and needed us to do duty. The company allowed me to get off at 3:00pm so I could report to the police station. I got to the inspector-rank in the 70s. I did what they normally did, say, the sergeant was the foreman of the patrol car, and the ordinary officer did beat patrols. There was a Manpower Department in the government at that time. Those who reached 18 and were born in Hong Kong had to participate in a voluntary force, such as reserve fire fighter, reserve medical, civil aid service, reserve police and security unit. I joined the reserve police force. It was called “impressment”, but in fact they didn’t impress you. There was the law, after all, and if you were more refined you could simply join St. John Ambulance Brigade.