EXTRACT FROM MR. L. H KING'S LETTER DATED 3RD JANUARY, 1933.
39
"We had Wilson from the C. O. here, he was very interested
in the Radio Section and visited the Central Office, he also
visited the Broadcasting Studio.
The Merger question still hangs on, the latest of their
proposals is that they shall receive compensation for the loss
of cable traffic taken by Radio, as they are compelled to
retain the cables by the Military and Naval Authorities, one
need only add to these the Foreign Office and then the farce
is complete.
Now
The farce of the thing is this; the Army, Navy and Air
Force each maintain a separate W/T. Station in Hong Kong for
their communication with Admiralty and Aldershot direct, the
Foreign Office have established their own Station at the
Legation at Peking for direct communication with London.
no one can maintain that this every day traffic could not be
sent by cable and that the revenue derived would alter the
financial position of the Cable Co. This traffic in aggregate
far exceeds anything handled by the Hong Kong Government Station,
70% of whose traffic is to places where no other means of
communication exist, and yet all forces are concentrated on
shutting down the Hong Kong services which are a definite trade
facility, in order to bolster up the cable interests.
It is