HONG KONG
PRICE: $1
A
ANNUAL
DEPARTMENTAL
REPORTS
1956-57
PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICER
HONG KONG
ANNUAL DEPARTMENTAL REPORT
BY THE
PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICER
FOR THE
FINANCIAL YEAR 1956-57
PRINTED AND PUBLISHED By S. YOUNG, ACTING GOVERNMENT PRINTER,
AT THE GOVERNMENT PRESS,
JAVA ROAD, HONG KONG
CONTENTS
GENERAL
STAFF
Paragraphs
1 - 6
7 - 12
PRESS SECTION
VISITS, ETC.
COLONY'S NEWSPAPERS
COURT ACTIONS
13 - 22
23 - 25
26 - 27
28 - 29
LIBRARY SERVICES
30 - 32
ADVERTISING, DISPLAY AND FILMS SECTION
33 - 40
FILM CENSORSHIP SECTION
41 - 42
GENERAL
THE pattern of work undertaken by the Public Relations Office during the year 1956-57 did not vary greatly from that of recent years. Indeed, it might be said that-with the exception of a brief but harassing period in October which strained the resources of the Department-the year was a normal one. The volume of work continued to increase without concomitant increase of manpower and resources to meet the mounting demand for the Department's services.
2. The unfortunate riots which occurred in Kowloon and Tsuen Wan, starting on October 10th, 1956, provided the greatest test of efficiency ever experienced by the Department. All members of the staff and in particular those of the Press Section, were fully extended from the afternoon of October 10th until the night of Monday, October 15th, 1956. The Press Section worked non-stop and was manned throughout this period without intermission, producing bulletins, special announce- ments, official statements, etc. for Press and radio.
3. In the circumstances the Department's showing was most creditable and there was no major breakdown of services. The public was kept informed as well as could be and the Press and broadcasting services were most co-operative in making known the march of events with all possible speed.
4.
The incident did however highlight the slender resources of manpower available to the Department in time of crisis. The fact that the substantive Public Relations Officer was absent from the Colony on leave cut senior manpower to a dangerous extent. It became necessary to second two Cadet Officers to the Department in order to give any rest at all to the Acting Public Relations Officer, the Acting Press Officer and their assistants.
5. Generally there has been a continuing improvement in liaison with other Government Departments, resulting in greater co-operation and a growing awareness of the facilities which the Department have to offer in publicity for the work of Government.
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6. During the year, for example, assistance was given by the Department in the publicity arrangements for the Agricultural Show, the anti-typhoid, anti-diphtheria and anti-mosquito cam- paigns of the Medical Department, exercises by the Colony's Civil Defence Organization and the annual Reviews of the Royal Hong Kong Defence Force and the Hong Kong Police Force and Auxiliaries.
Staff.
7. Mr. J. L. Murray, Public Relations Officer, attended the Conference of Colonial Information Officers at the Colonial Office from June 18th to June 29th, 1956 and subsequently took leave in the United Kingdom. He returned to the Colony and resumed duties on December 19th, 1956.
8. During the absence of the substantive Public Relations Officer, Mr. S. S. Knowles, Press Officer, acted as Public Rela- tions Officer while Mr. D. N. Willis, Assistant Press Officer, took over the duties of Press Officer.
9. With a view to enabling the Department to improve its publicity services, particularly publicity for the Colony overseas, three new senior posts for specialist officers were approved during the year. A Films and Photographic Officer, Production Officer and Features Writer are now being recruited and should join the Department during the year 1957-58.
10. On December 1st, 1956, Mr. D. N. Willis was promoted to the new post of Senior Assistant Press Officer. At the same time the establishment of Assistant Press Officers was increased from three to four and that of Press Translators from six to eight. Difficulty was experienced in the recruiting of Assistant Press Officers and it was not until March 1st, 1957 that one of the two vacancies was filled.
11. Mr. TAM Kam Wai joined the Department as Executive Officer on May 14th, 1956, replacing Mr. R. J. Oliphant.
12. Mr. D. N. Willis proceeded to the United Kingdom on February 25th, 1957 to attend the Course for Information Officers (March 5th to July 6th, 1957).
Services.
PRESS SECTION
13 The Press Section maintains a satisfactory standard of output. Its most important functions continue to be the prepa-
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ration of the Daily Information Bulletin and news bulletins for broadcast by Radio Hong Kong three times a day.
14. An almost round the clock service was maintained throughout the year, with Duty Officers, both English and Chinese-speaking, manning the Press Section every night from 10 p.m. onwards.
15. Steps were taken to increase the contents of the daily Press Summary, which contains items of interest translated into English from the vernacular Press. In all, 3,836 items were translated during the year under review.
16. A total of 292 daily bulletins of Police news, containing 1,408 factual reports of traffic accidents, armed robberies, thefts, etc. were issued for use by local newspapers. These do not include individual Press inquiries answered outside normal office hours.
17. Good use was made of local press photographs, simplified plans, sketch maps and scale drawings issued by the Section to amplify or explain text matter carried in the Daily Information Bulletin. During the year, 45 such photographs were dis- tributed, with 195 acceptances.
18. Close liaison was maintained with the Press Relations Officers of the three Armed Services. Cordial relations were also maintained with the British Council Representative, whose press material is embodied in the Daily Information Bulletin.
19. A good level of output of London Press Service material was maintained and satisfactory acceptance results were obtain- ed. The special regional service for the Far East, known as "Feastco", and the specialized C.O.I. service "Colco", dealing with Commonwealth and Colonial affairs, continued to be popular with certain sections of the local press.
20. The London Press Service is supplemented with a feature articles service written by journalists and writers of repute. The service was mainly supplied to the local press on an "exclusive" publication basis. During the year, 685 feature articles and 268 photographs were distributed, with 322 feature articles and 139 photographs used.
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21. Use by the local press of all types of press material is summarized as follows:
No. of Items Issued.
No. of Items Used.
Average Use Per Item
Total No. of Acceptances By
Local Newspapers.
Accepted.
DAILY INFORMATION BULLETIN
1,785
1,785
14,014
7.80
LONDON PRESS SERVICE
854
275
304
1.10
"FEASTCO" (LONDON FAR EAST SERVICE)
278
113
166
1.47
"COLCO" (LONDON COLONIAL SERVICE)
574
127
139
1.09
RADIO NEWS & PROGRAMMES
523
523
3,742
7.15
ARMED SERVICES RELEASES
160
160
824
5.15
C.O.I. FEATURE ARTICLES
685
306
322
1.05
PHOTOGRAPHS
(including maps, plans and sketch drawings)
P.R.O.
45
45
C.O.I.
268
122
Armed Services
125
125
195
139
278
4.33
1.14
2.22
22. No records exist of the use of Daily Information Bulletin items and P.R.O. and Armed Services photographs made by foreign correspondents and news agencies in the Colony or by British official agencies overseas.
Visits, Etc.
23. Facility visits continue to be popular with the local Press and during the year 17 facility visits were arranged, eight of them requiring the provision of official transport, either by road
or sea.
24. Popular tours included a visit to the new irrigation reservoirs at Ping Shan, a visit to the Tai Lam Chung reservoir project, a visit to see the progress of work on the Kai Tak Airport development scheme, and the annual visit to the Agricultural Show at Yuen Long.
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25. A number of Press Conferences were also arranged during the year.
Colony's Newspapers.
26.
There were no major changes in the Colony's newspapers during the year. At the end of March, 1957 there was a total of 168 newspapers and 24 news agencies registered with the Registrar of Newspapers.
27. Four of the smaller Chinese daily newspapers ceased publication. One was re-established under a new name. One new pictorial magazine, the Cosmorama Pictorial (monthly), was started.
Court Actions.
28. During the year under review, two contempt of court actions were instituted against local newspapers.
29. In July, 1956 proceedings were instituted against two vernacular newspapers, the Yuet Wah Daily News and the Chung Ying Daily News, in connexion with a murder case in Kowloon. In the same month, the Yuet Wah Daily News was prosecuted for contempt of court in connexion with an abortion case in Kowloon. All the defendants were found guilty and fined.
Library Services.
30. The departmental Library, which for convenience is housed adjacent to the Press Room, was enlarged during the year and now consists of nearly 600 volumes. Among new books added to the Reference Library, 30 were presented by the Central Office of Information.
31. Reference books were put to good use in supplying information required by other Government Departments, the Press and the general public. Loans of books were also made to individuals and a considerable quantity of printed material was distributed to schools, clubs and youth organizations.
32. A start has been made on building up a photographic library of Hong Kong subjects. Prints from this library are available to newspapers and magazines throughout the world.
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ADVERTISING, DISPLAY, DISTRIBUTION AND FILMS SECTION
33. Demands made on this small Section by other Govern- ment Departments have resulted in the Section being kept very busy during the year.
Government Advertising.
34. The total cost of Government advertisements was $149,726.22 and the number of advertisements 629. The average cost per advertisement was about $238 as against $268 per advertisement in the preceding year. The decrease in advertisement costs was effected by the adoption of six-point type for all lengthy advertisements.
Visual Display and Distribution.
35. The Central Office of Information continues to supply large quantities of posters, booklets, etc., also material for the Reference Library. Most of the bulk publicity material is made available for distribution through Government Depart- ments, schools and social organizations.
36.
Eight photo-posters and three feature posters supplied by the Central Office of Information were overprinted in Chinese for schools during the year. Overprinting of these posters for the Governments of North Borneo and Sarawak was also under- taken.
37. The Section continues to produce plans and drawings for the Press Section.
Films.
38. During the year loans from the Films Library numbered 2,344 and these were shown to audiences totalling 589,815. The Central Office of Information remains the main source of supply of documentary films and British News-a weekly film news magazine-is particularly popular.
Local Photographs.
39. The Section is producing, within its limited resources and until such time as the projected photographic unit comes into being in 1958, numbers of stock photographs for publicity purposes-mainly illustration of press and magazine articles. The cameramen are all amateur-members of the staff of the
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Department and the Public Relations Officer is much indebted to the Commissioner of Police for the use of facilities in the well-equipped darkrooms at Police Headquarters.
40. The Department continues to take a leading part in the selection and production of photographs for the Colony's Annual Report.
FILM CENSORSHIP SECTION
41. Film Censorship continues to be administered by the Public Relations Officer in his capacity as Secretary to both the Panel of Censors and the Films Appeal Board. There has been no change in the composition of the Panel of Censors. Appendix "A" at the end of this Report gives a summary of films censored.
42. The theatre in the Gloucester Building has continued to function satisfactorily. The projection and sound equipment has now been modified to enable all standard types of film (except those with magnetic sound tracks) to be shown.
J. L. MURRAY, Public Relations Officer.
August, 1957.
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FILMS CENSORED DURING THE PERIOD 1.4.56 TO 31.3.57
APPENDIX A
Appeal Board
Country of Origin
Number Passed Censored Clean
Passed with cuts
Banned
Remarks
Films
Ban Appeal Submitted Confirmed Upheld
Passed with cuts
5
4
2
2
1
1
1
I
FEATURE FILMS
CHINA (Mainland)
21
11
5
FRANCE
21
18
2
- сл
HONG KONG (Cantonese)
249
218
31
(Mandarin).
62
54
8
ITALY ....
6
5
1
INDIA
18
18
JAPAN (dubbed in English).
6
5
1 1
1
(dubbed in Cantonese
and/or Mandarin)
23
23
MEXICO
2
PHILIPPINES.
1
71
.1
Ι
TAIWAN
3
1
2
UNITED KINGDOM
53
53
U.S.A.
221
211
1
| - | | | ° -
U.S.S.R.
18
17
1
NEWSREELS
U.S.A.
166
166
UNITED KINGDOM
99
99
SHORTS
CHINA (Mainland)
31
20
LA
5
6
JAPAN
6
6
KOREA...
1
1
PORTUGAL...
12
12
UNITED KINGDOM
9
9
U.S.A.
128
128
U.S.S.R.
2
2
8
In addition 46 Advertising Films Were Censored
2
1
HUNG
KONG
Code No.: 3043-57