THE pace of change at the top is becoming truly breathtaking. Once the civil service was the bedrock of stability, the ultimate iron rice-bowl, where many remained in the same jobs for more than a decade. But now all that belongs to the past.
After last week's bout of musical chairs in Lower Albert Road, only four of the Government's 15 policy secretaries hold the same posts as when the Governor, Chris Patten, arrived three years ago.
By September, their ranks will have shrunk even further.
Secretary for Works James Blake, who is due to retire, will be replaced by Director of Highways Kwong Hon-sang, unless poor health prevents him from taking the post.
That may mark the end of the localisation process. But the changing of the guard at the top will continue over the next two years, as veteran local civil servants follow the expatriate exodus, rather than take their chances under Chinese rule.
Secretary for Education and Manpower Michael Leung Man-kin is expected to be the first to go. Dogged by ill-health, and close to the age of retirement, his departure has been widely forecast in civil service circles over the past year.
