0014-
Mr. Malcolm said that approval had been given for this expansion. A Chinese expert was also arriving shortly, and he would then be able to carry out his plans for increased work amongst the Chinese.
70.
Mr. Pakenham (Djakarta) said that in view of the special circumstances in Indonesia, the work of the Information Officer had to be carried out to a very large extent by personal contacts and his object was to increase and main- tain these. He was seriously handicapped by bad accommodation and the consequent lack of security. His local staff was the minimum required to carry out routine work and he had urgent need of a local European secretary capable of dealing with English material. It had been recommended that a Vice- Consul to deal mainly with Information work should be attached to the Consulate in Surabaya
(Mr. Malcolm said that the appointment of a B.4. officer had probably already been approved by now) and a similar proposal was to be made from Medan. Mr. Cable (Djakarta) stressed the importance of this from a political point of view, since additional staff would enable the Consulates in these areas to provide badly needed political information.
71.
Mr. Swan (Saigon) said that he needed a large increase in staff and more satisfactory premises. (He pointed out that he was also
acting as British Council representative.) Mr. Rayner strongly supported this, and the meeting agreed to recommend to the Bukit Serene Conference an increase in our propaganda effort in Indo-China.
Mr. Carleton Greene (Federation of Malaya) was fortunate in having available the finance and technical assistance which he required. He would appreciate more information on conditions inside China.
72.
73.
Mr. Thomson (Singapore) said that the Singapore Press was oversupplied, and it was therefore difficult to place material with them. Problems of shortage of staff, etc., were at present under discussion.
74.
Mr. Ratcliffe (Kuching) said that his Government regarded information work as a defence measure, and were therefore willing to provide the necessary funds.
75.
Mr. Parsons (Jesselton) was adequately supplied with funds considering his present lack of staff, communications and accommodation office is in a palm leaf house. He is opening
a Library and Reading Room next month.
76.
his
Mr. J.L. Murray (Hong Kong) said that his Government had now approved in principle his scheme for reorganisation and were likely to provide the necessary finance.
/XIII.Publicity Media.