96/15/49.
PRIORITY
SAVING
64-65-1
From the Secretary of State for the Colonies.
April, 1949.
To the officer Administering the Government of HONG KONG
Repeated to the Commissioner General, SOUTH EAST ASIA,
Date 21st
NO.
90
R
NO 6
28
SECRET
IMPORTANT.
Your Secret Savingram No. 55 of 26th March, 1949.
I am grateful for your observations.
Installation of transmitters in the north of the New Territories, however, at e site yet to be selected, secured and prepared, would inevitably require more time and money than are available, quick resulte are essential even, if necessary, at some cost to technical standards of reception. There would be the additional disadvantages that the real purpose of the undertaking would be more apparent and, as you have remarked in paragraph 1 (c), that the new site might become untenable in an emergency,
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2. I shall be grateful if you will therefore reconsider the possibility of installing the 7 kilowatt transmitters at the Hung Hom site or at any other site free from most, if not all, of the drawbacks already referred to. It would be helpful, if 1% were possible, to indicate for 7 kilowatt transmission from such sites (a) how wide a radius of adequate reception outside the Colony could be expected at various times of day and (b) the signal strength to noise ratio in Canton at the same times.
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3. In addition to savings of time and money on obtaining and preparing a new site, this would also presumably substantially reduce your need for new buildings, emergenoy gonerating plant etc.
40 I agree in principle with your preferance for extension and improvement of existing programmme services. A much less extensive development of the English programs would suffice, however, and the introduction of a third programme is I fear too elaborate a conception for the essentially utilitarian nature of this project. I would be glad to know whether the suggested extension of the Chinese programme from 0700 to midnight cau be justified by evidence of Chinese listening habita.
5. I understand that three 74 kilowatt transmitters would be available. Leaving out of account the suggested third programme," these would provide for the Chinese and English programmes with one in reserve. I understand that Cable and Wireless Ltd. have informed. their Hong Kong manager that he may offer to make available to the Government, for the purpose of this project, up to half of the Fifth Floor of the Company's office building now under construction.
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