Foreign office in Singapore. Their power if favourably sited should be enough to reach Canton, but would not be too high to support the fiction that the purpose of their installation would be to make the local services fully effective within the Colony. The maintenance of this fiction has been held to be of importance not only for political reasons connected with China, but also because an inter- national agreement, to which the United Kingdon is a party, prescribes that the power of a mhdium wave service shall not be greater than is necessary to give the country concerned a reasonably effective domestic service.
6. The Hong Kong Government has responded favourably en principles to this proposal, but its provisional estimates appear to have been based on too elaborate an interpretation of the requirements and upon the belief that the new transmitters could only cover the area aimed at if they were erected not on the existing transmitting site of the domestic broadcasting service, but on a new aite which would have to be specially prepared.
7. It was felt by a meeting of Foreign Office and Colonial Office representatives that the Governor's suggestions would thus rob the project of its principal virtues, namely, speed and economy, without which the relatively small increase of coverage to be obtained from it would not be justified. Before adcpting this conclusion finally, however, a further telegram has been sent asking the Governor to confirm that the installation of the new transmitter on the existing site would, in fact, have no practical value.
8.
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It seems to follow from this that if there is no speedy and cheap way of estaŭlishing a broadcasting service from Hong Kong to China, it is necessary to consider whether a more powerful medium-wave transmitter of say 50 kilowatts could be installed on a new site in order to supplement. the short-wave tramandssions from Singapore with a fairly powerful medium wave service covering a radius of several hundred miles into China. Such a project would, of course, involve a substantial cost and, in so far as it might make a supplementary estimate necessary, it would call for a policy decision at ministerial level. It would not, of course, be possible to pretend that so powerful a transmitter was primarily intended for a domestic broadcasting service.
9. It has been felt that it would be impracticable, even if legitimate, to attempt to persuade the Hong Kong Government to devote funds to either of these projects. The proposals have, therefore, been put to the Hong Kong Government on the assumption that they would be financed from United Kingdom funds
10. A paper is being prepared by the Foreign office in consul- tation with the Colonial Office for submission to Ministers at the next meeting of the Colonial Information Policy Committee on Thursday, 7th July, reporting that the proposals as set out in the Goverment of Hong Kong's estimate are impracticable, and stating the arguments for and against a long term project for a medium-wave service of considerably increased power, taking into consideration the view of the Commissioner- General for South East Asia that such an increase is an urgent necessity.
5. vii. 49.
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But it has been made clear to the Foreign office that
Colonial office would not accept them as change on the ₤1 million available of dentaping
El Colonial broad casting from the benual CD. and W. Reserve.
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