CONFIDENTIAL
Mr. Stewart
52
Reference....
No. The file was in a
muddly when I received it and I found it most difficult to deter what,
• papers where undum. mediate discusson
4160
2016
Hong Kong Copyright Legislation
You will wish to see the draft Savingram
attached.
2. This relates to what may, I believe, prove to be a somewhat explosive issue. Until the new C.R.D.
was set up this matter had been the concern of Commonwealth Trade Department (Mr. Beattie) and they
had been wrestling with it for some months. On
10 February the Governor had asked for the views of
Commonwealth Office on the draft Copyright Act and Ordinance which the Hong Kong Government propose to introduce and which Rediffusion (Hong Kong) Limited, who operate a wire diffusion service in
the Colony, oppose as being likely to abrogate their licence. Mr. Beattie sent the papers in due course to one of the Legal Advisers, a Mr. Oxley,
and he also consulted with the Board of Trade.
3. Mr. Wallace, who is Head of the Board of
Trade Department dealing with copyright matters, expressed firm views on the issue and suggested that Mr. Beattie should pass these on to the
Governor without waiting for the legal opinion to
be formulated. This was not done. Mr. Beattie
tells me that neither he nor the Officer concerned
in Hong Kong Department felt that they really understood the matter, and they preferred to wait for Mr. Oxley to draft (as they hoped) a self-
explanatory Savingram.
4. The papers came to me two months later and Mr. Oxley had still not formulated an opinion but the file was in such disorder that it was most
difficult to make sense of it. Mr. Beattie, when I mentioned this to him, said he supposed the Legal Adviser must have taken the file to pieces when working on it. Whatever the reason, our Registry has had a most difficult time putting the papers together, and they are still in something less than apple-pie order.
5. I have flagged the following papers for your attention: