October 9, 1970, page 114.
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I was particularly struck in this context by my honourable Friend, Mr K. S. Lo's concern at the decline in the enamelware industry as an example of the effect of lost advantages, as if this decline were a loss rather than a gain to the community. It has declined, I believe, because we have learned to use our resources of enterprise, capital and labour in other more profitable directions. That is progress. We would be in a sorry way if enamelware was still our fourth biggest industry.

— John James Cowperthwaite

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "I was particularly struck in this context by my honourable Friend, Mr K. S. Lo's concern at the decline in the enamelware industry as an example of the effect of lost advantages, as if this decline were a loss rather than a gain to the community. It has declined, I believe, because we have learned to use our resources of enterprise, capital and labour in other more profitable directions. That is progress. We would be in a sorry way if enamelware was still our fourth biggest industry." in the context of "October 9, 1970, page 114." to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "John James Cowperthwaite" (Sourced, Official Report of Proceedings of the Hong Kong Legislative Council) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
John James Cowperthwaite

About John James Cowperthwaite

Sir John James Cowperthwaite KBE CMG (25 April 1915 – 21 January 2006) was a British civil servant and the Financial Secretary of Hong Kong from 1961 to 1971. His free market policies of positive non-interventionism are widely credited with turning post-war Hong Kong into a thriving global financial center.