Reference.
Mr. Carter
Reference the correspondence with Mr. Maddocks about the supply of economic and political informa- tion. I understand from the distribution section of Communications Department (who are at present res- ponsible for the distribution of prints of despatches) that the Political Adviser Hong Kong should receive automatically copies of prints originating in the South-East Asia and Far East area which are con- sidered to be of interest to Hong Kong. I am not sure just how wide the field of Hong Kong's interest is considered to be but it is probably much in line with the regional distribution proposed in the new procedure currently being considered (in this con- nection please see Flag X on HKK 13/21) which it is envisaged will be the responsibility of the Library.
It would appear from Mr. Maddocks' letters, however, that neither the current distribution nor the new regional distribution under consideration will adequately meet his requirements. It would not, however, be a practical proposition to have Hong Kong added to any other set regional distribu- tions as this would probably inundate Hong Kong with papers, only a few of which would be of any real interest to them. There may also be some resistance to this idea on the distribution side since I under- stand it is one of the primary objects of the new procedure to rationalise and reduce the amount of circulated papers.
2.
3. Unless, therefore, the posts selected by Mr. Maddocks can be asked to send material direct to Hong Kong, the only alternative would appear to be that we rely on the regional distribution for prints supplemented by ad hoc distribution instructions from this Department to cover despatches originating out- side the region. The latter would not, however, provide the copies of correspondence which Mr. Maddocks has requested in addition to despatches.
Anthase.
su
(J. K. Marsh) 27 May, 1969