APPENDIX G.
ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE
PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICER
FOR THE YEAR 1947/8.
APPENDIX G.
ANNUAL REPORT
1. During the year 1947-48 there were frequent staff changes in the Public Relations Office. Two caretaker Public Relations Officers, Mr. George White and Mr. J. H. B. Lee, took charge of the department until the arrival in September of Wing Com- mander A. H. Marsack. Owing to ill-health, Wing Commander Marsack was forced to resign his post in March, 1948. Mrs. E. N. Davis, Assistant Press Relations Officer, then took over as Acting Public Relations Officer until the end of the year. However in spite of all these changes the affairs of the department took on a definite shape while the policy of the department began to make itself felt. As well as the routine work of contact between the Government and the Public in all matters relating to Government policy, advancements along the planned line of development, similar to those of Public Relations in most of the other Colonies were becoming effective. It must be recorded that limitations of staff caused a serious curtailment in the scope of development.
2. The Public Relations Office moved from its old premises in the Gloucester Arcade to its present headquarters in Statue Square in February, 1948. These new premises were a great improvement on the old ones but it is to be hoped that still better accommodation will be made available in a permanent building. If, in the future, more effective work is to be done, then adequate staff, finance and premises will be required.
PRESS.
3. Throughout the year the Press has generally shown helpful co-operation but there have been instances when the Government viewpoint has not always received the fullest publicity. Newspaper policies have at times conflicted with the Government point of view. Again inaccurate statements in the Press have sometimes been somewhat irritating, particularly as it has always been stressed that the P.R.O. and his staff are always willing to check the information. However, it is fully realised that newspaper production is usually done under high pressure conditions and the checking of details may mean a serious delay.
PRESS RELEASES.
4. The ideal that this Department has aimed at is to have all English copy translated into Chinese. However, with only a limited staff this has not always been possible. With Government Public Notices the practice of translating into Chinese is always followed and copies of these notices are given in both English and Chinese to the Chinese newspapers. For further publicity all Government Public Notices are written up in the form of news items, both in English and Chinese. During the year 1947-48 Government expenditure on Public Notices, which passed through this office amounted to $80,429.45. This was made up as follows:
English Press $36,213.70. Chinese Press $44,215.75. This was in the proportion of 45% to 55% (See Annex 1. for further details.)
+
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DAILY SUMMARIES.
5. The issue of Daily Summaries has shown a steady increase, both in the length of summaries and the numbers of persons, now 31, to whom the summaries are circulated. A recent innovation has been to include members of the Executive and Legislative Councils in this daily service. From all reports the Daily Press Summary serves a very useful function. It is realised that the choice of material is not always perfect and it will be sometime yet before the translators have a sufficiently developed sense of sorting out the unimportant from the important news of the day. On occasion the Daily Summary has been known to strike a frivolous note. Most of the people receiving the summaries are not in the position of being able to read Chinese and are thus enabled to get the Chinese angle on the news.
6.
LECTURE ROOM.
The move to our present premises enabled us, for the first time, to cater for this important function of Press Relations work. It must be mentioned that there was some delay in furnishing the room since there was considerable doubt on the part of several officials, not versed in Press Relations work, as to its usefulness. The Lecture Room has a seating capacity for 112 people and is equipped with a dais, lectern and blackboard. Owing to the wooden structure of the building and the likely fire hazard the Chief Officer of the Fire Brigade has advised against the use of 35 mm films, but for the present there seems to be no objection against the use of the 16 mm. It is hoped that this Lecture Room will help the Public since at present the Colony lacks such rooms in the Central District. A small hiring charge is made to cover the cost of cleaning and lighting. The Sino-British Club is one association which is making regular use of the room.
SMALL CONFERENCE ROOM.
a
7. This room has a dual purpose being used both as reference and conference room. All local newspapers and specially selected ones from England are kept there. The public is admitted to this room all through the day and is only excluded when a Press Conference is being held. A Press Conference is held every day in the afternoon at 4.30. Special Press Conferences held by heads of Government departments and important visitors to the Colony are held at various times during the day. It has heen found practicable and useful to hold newspapers and periodicals for three months. They are then distributed through- out the Colony to various institutions such as schools, clubs and libraries.
READING room.
8. The Reading Room is kept open continuously throughout the day.
It is gratifying to record that the attendance of public readers has increased considerably since the department moved to its present premises. One simple explanation for this is that the present room is much larger than the former. In the last three
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months regular counts of readers have been made.
The average daily attendance is well over 100. Of these daily readers approximately 50% are regular customers. Again it is gratifying to note that only on very rare occasions have magazines been stolen. A wide range of subject matter is covered by the various illustrated periodicals. This range includes journals which cover trade, sport, dress fashions, building, geography, British life, etc. Every local English and Chinese newspaper is available. The walls of the Reading Room are doing yeoman service in displaying posters and photographs supplied by the Central Office of Informa- tion. Where necessary, to make the illustrations clearer, Chinese captions are added. Whenever possible pictures and posters are shown in series so that the maximum value of the visual aids can be put over. In this matter, it should be emphasized that these visual aids are of immense value in propaganda work and a careful study in this direction, based on the type of reader using the room, might well bear valuable results. Much valuable work, in bringing people in touch with the outside world, is accomplished by the magazine To-day, which is published by the Central Office of Information. In the 12 editions of To-day so far published, a wide variety of subjects shown in picture form of both the United Kingdom and the Colonies has been covered. It is to be regretted that to date our own Colony of Hong Kong has not yet appeared in this excellent publication.
DISTRIBUTION OF Materials SENT FROM THE
CENTRAL OFFICE OF INFORMATION.
9. This material consists essentially of United Kingdom publications which deal mainly with subjects connected with Great Britain. Small quantities of special and weekly publica- tions are sent out by airmail while larger quantities of films, books, bulk magazines and newspapers come by surface mail. In order to deliver this material over as wide a field as possible lists have been compiled of clubs, associations, schools, libraries and hospitals. These institutions receive this material, usually in strict rotation but occasionally, depending on the suitability of the publications, the routine is changed. Much of the C.O.I. material consists of articles, ebonoids and photographs intended for issue to the local press. These with the daily sheets issued by the London Press Service are re-edited and passed on to the press at the Daily Conference. A real weakness at the moment is that we are at present unable to translate into Chinese all the material given to us so that the Chinese press will the more readily make use of it. Another lack of which we are also aware is the absence of a shop window for display purposes facing the street. We have, to some extent, got over this by fixing pieces of beaver board on the walls in the corridor but these offer a relatively poor substitute. After photographs and illustrations have been displayed they are sent out in sets to colleges and schools for visual aids in teaching.
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FILMS.
10. In the course of the year the film library has grown considerably. The total number of films that we now hold is 236 of which 91 are 35 mm and 155 are 16 mm. In consequence of this number the range of subjects has vastly improved but it is necessary to record that many of the old ones, especially those produced during the war, could very well be written off. Time has made them redundant. Many of the 16 mm films were greatly in demand. Among the institutions making regular use of them were the Y.M.C.A., Fire Brigade, Education Department, Wah Yan College, Sing Tao Yat Po (Newspaper), the Aberdeen Industrial School and the Fisheries Department. A strong effort was made to run a regular Saturday and Sunday morning programme of 35 mm films at several of the large local cinemas. This was done in collaboration with Mr. Odell of the International Films who supplied a Pathe News and a Coloured Cartoon. For a time we were able to keep up three shows of one hour each on each morning. Arrangements had also been made for an exchange service of films from Shanghai and Singapore in order to get a greater variety of films and a constant supply. For a time the King's Cinema in Victoria and the Majestic in Kowloon arranged weekly showings. It is to be regretted that these programmes were stopped. The main reason for the suspension was that the cinema managers, because of the poor Box Office returns, could not justify to their Directors a large enough profit. At first 60 cents was charged but later the entrance fee was raised to $1. The experiment lasted just two months but in spite of all the publicity and effort which was expended it broke down.
As a result of discussions with Cinema Managers it has been found that generally they are only prepared to make use of our films provided they have a gap of from 10 to 15 minutes running time which can be filled.
11. Much difficulty has been experienced in trying to find a satisfactory place of depository for our 35 mm films. They are highly inflammable and therefore careful precautions need to be taken to store them. A disastrous fire in the King's Theatre during the year brought to the public notice the highly dangerous character of these films. The department went into the question of building a special vault on the premises for housing these films but because of the great expense involved the matter was shelved. For the present and by arrangement with the Medical Department, a small vault on our premises, which had previously held microscopes, has been made available for storing our films. How- ever this needs to be adapted to conform with the Fire Ordinances and this cost of reconstruction is estimated at $1,700. This amount though high is considerably less than the construction of a new vault.
VISITORS.
12. Concurrently, with other Press Relations Offices through- out the world, this department is now being looked to to dispense information over a very wide field. During the year visitors to the Colony and journalists of all nationalities have used the office
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during their stay in the Colony. They have asked, not only for general but specific information, and in the case of the journalists interviews have been arranged for them. Where it has been found that visitors had something of general interest for the Colony every effort has been made for them to Broadcast on the local Government stations. Close contact has been kept with the neighbouring Press Relations Officers in Singapore, Canton and Shanghai so that visitors and Government officials may have matters expedited for them. Among the miscellany of jobs that this department has been called upon to do are those of finding missing relatives, forwarding letters of applications for employ- ment and even arranging a marriage. The use of the department may be gauged by the number of daily callers. Over a period of one week visitors by appointment and casual droppers-in averaged eight daily. Again enquiries by the telephone while averaging roughly 15 a day have been known to reach more than 30. On the basis of visitors and telephone calls it must be obvious that with a limited staff continuous routine work was not always possible. Close relations with the local Army, Navy and Air Force Press Relations Officers have always been kept. Often this department has been able to help the service P.R.Os. in their work of translating and releasing information through this department.
ELAINE N. DAVIS,
Acting Public Relations Officer.
ANNEX I.
NEWSPAPER ADVERTISING
In the English and Chinese Press For the period April, 1947-March, 1948.
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English Press
Chinese Press
Month
Total
S.C.M. Post China Mail
Wah Kiu
Sing Tao
Kung Sheung
1947 :
$
$
$
$
$
$
April
1,369.25
2,145.50
1,275.00
1,430.00
888.00
7,107.75
May
2,416.45
1,852.00
2,004.00
2,322.00
1,611.00
10,205.45
June
2,075.90
1,613.00
1,537.50
1,367.50
1,011.00
7,604.90
July
1,775.00
1,451.50
1,669.00
1,827.50
1,476.00
8,199.00
August
885.50
876.50
850.50
987.50
828.00
4,428.00
September
1,293.00
1,036.00
894.00
912.50
870.00
5,005.50
October
2,526.40
1,895.70
415.50
2,424.00
1,152.00
8,413.60
November
1,120.50
1,075.50
930.00
1,072.50
1,251.00
5,449.50
December
1,055.75
805.35
747.00
1,085.00
837.00
4,530.10
1948:
January
1,264.20
1,303.50
970.50
1,146.25
1,016.00
5,700.45
February
2,479.70
2,140.00
1,683.00
1,712.50
1,896.00
9,911.20
March
932.50
825.00
813.00
717.50
586.00
3,874.00
ΤΟΤΑΙ.
19,194.15
17,109.55
13,789.00
17,004.75
13,422.00
$80,429.45
NOTE.
English Press Chinese Press
$36,213.70 $44,215.75
-
45%
55%
Total for year
$80,429.45