1991-12-31 11:02
INFORMATION SERVICES DEPT
852 521 7725 P.01/11
(LS
To: All Overseas Offices
MEDIA SUMMARY
Media Research Suh.Division, Government Information Services
From: DIS (Mark Pinkstone, OPRS)
Col
6
Date: 31 December 1991
Pages: !!
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 31, 1991
OVERVIEW
Log No.: OPRS/L/
HWA 010/1
→ HKD 010/2
The retirement of Governor Sir David Wilson topped media coverage today, with many papers carrying public reactions to the announcement. Also treated prominently were the year-end review by Refugee Coordinator Clinton Leeks and reports on safety at the Daya Bay Nuclear power plant. The proposed abolition of the death penalty was given good play by some papers. Other stories which received good coverage included the Queen's New Year's honours list, the No 4 alarm fire in Kwai Chung and the murder of a dance hall hostess in a Tsim Sha Tsui guest house.
CHINESE MEDIA
GOVERNOR'S RETIREMENT
It was announced by the Office of the Prime Minister last night that Sir David Wilson would retire as Governor of HK before the end of 1992, both the printed and elèctronic media reported prominently today.
The news, which followed announcement of Sir David's award of a life peerage in the Queen's honours list, said that he would have served as HK Governor for five years next April and that it had never been the intention of the British Government that he would serve uncil 1997.
A number of papers recalled that there had lately been reports of change of governorship. Reports noted that possible candidates for the seat included David Owen, Peter Brooke, Tom King, John Boyd, Sir Ewen Fergusson and Sir Charles Powell. Sing Tao Daily said that Baroness Dunn was a possible choice. The paper thought that she possessed the necessary qualifications of a governor.
Quoting British sources, some papers said that the date had not been fixed for Sir David to vacate his seat and it was unlikely that John Major would decide on the next governor before the general election next summer. Sing Pao said however Said David would be told of the arranegments when he visited London next month.
A few papers noted that news of Sir David's retirement was first broken by Reuters and that GIS had not confirmed the matter. Other reports attempted to analyse Sir David's performance during the past five years, saying that he had dealt with a great many problems arising from the transition, including the airport issue. The HK Times said that many of the issues were related to China and that, the difficulty involved had undermined the effectiveness of his resolutions.
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