Hong Kong Department
2
26 March, 1969
Thank you for your letter of 27 February concerning the premature release of the notice of Mr. A. M. McMullin's promotion to Puisne Judge.
AP
2. We have looked into this and it seems clear that the embargo was in fact broken in Hong Kong, probably by the South China Morning Post. Our News Department released the information at 1500 hours on 5 February under embargo until 0001 hours on 6 February. sent the news by telex to Hong Kong at 1830 hours BST on 5 February, clearly under embargo until 2300 hours GMT (i.e. midnight BST). In this connection, you may care to see the enclosed copy of AP's telex message.
3. It has been suggested that in fact the South China Morning Post broke the embargo technically only by cne and threequarter hours, in order to get the news into that day's edition.
4. If you feel that it would be a help to you and would ensure that this situation does not recur, we could consider altering our embargo time to suit your local needs, 1.3. making the time of release un hour earlier, which would allow inclusion of such items in the morning editions, Perhaps you would let me know your feelings about this.
G. C. Hamilton, Esq., Colonial Secretariat, HONG KONG,
(v. S. Carter)
*
HICK14/20
BEF
8-1