XN000022-1983-09-04 — Page 2

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1983

QUALITY OF COMMUNICATION VITAL

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ACTING GOVERNOR

THE QUALITY OF MATERIAL TO BE COMMUNICATED WAS PARTICULARLY IMPORTANT IN A DAY AND AGE WHEN PEOPLE WERE SO EXPOSED -- AND SOMETIMES SO VULNERABLE TO THE CONFUSING INFLUENCE OF CATCH PHRASES AND MEANINGLESS SLOGANS REPETITIVELY THROWN AT US THROUGH A MULTITUDE OF CHANNELS, THE ACTING GOVERNOR, SIR PHILIP HADDON-CAVE, SAID THIS EVENING.

MODERN COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY DID NOT INTERPRET, OR ANALYSE, INFORMATION, BUT MERELY PASSED IT ON WITH MAXIMUM EFFICIENCY, AND THE COST WAS NOT INCONSIDERABLE, HE SAID.

THERE WAS LITTLE POINT IN DEVELOPING HIGH SPEED TRANSMISSION SYSTEMS IF THE INFORMATION TRANSMITTED WAS BADLY ORGANISED AND WRITTEN UP IT WOULD SIMPLY CAUSE EMBARRASSING MISUNDERSTANDINGS AND EXPENSIVE MISTAKES, TO THE EXTENT THAT THE MATERIAL TRANSMITTED INFLUENCES DECISIONS BY THE RECEIVER.

+THUS, PERHAPS IRONICALLY, THE IMPORTANCE OF WRITING SKILLS HAS ASSUMED A NEW SIGNIFICANCE IN THIS AGE OF MODERN COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY, SIR PHILIP ADDED.

THE ACTING GOVERNOR WAS SPEAKING AT THE OPENING CEREMONY OF THE SIXTH ASIA-PACIFIC LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT SEMINAR AT THE FURAMA HOTEL.

SIR PHILIP NOTED THAT THE SEMINAR WAS BEING HELD TO EXCHANGE AND ACQUIRE MANAGEMENT EXPERIENCE AND KNOW-HOW AND TO DISCUSS WAYS AND MEANS OF DEVELOPING LEADERSHIP QUALITIES, AND SAID THAT A BASIC REQUIREMENT FOR SUCCESS IN THESE TWO AREAS OF MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP WAS UNDERSTANDING.

+AND THAT MEANS THE AVAILABILITY OF EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS AND PROPER USE OF THEM, HE ADDED.

SIR PHILIP SAID HE CHOSE TO SPEAK ON THE SUBJECT OF COMMUNICATIONS AS 1983 HAD BEEN DESIGNATED +WORLD COMMUNICATIONS YEAR+ BY THE UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

HE TOLD THE DELEGATES THAT THE AVAILABILITY OF EXCELLENT COMMUNICATIONS FACILITIES HAD BEEN A MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR IN THE EMERGENCE OF HONG KONG AS A CITY WITH INTERNATIONAL DIMENSIONS AND A DIVERSIFIED ECONOMY.

THESE FACILITIES WERE BEING PROVIDED BY CABLE AND WIRELESS (HK) LTD. WHICH OPERATES INTERNATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICES- BY THE HONG KONG TELEPHONE COMPANY LTD. WHICH PROVIDES THE LOCAL PUBLIC TELEPHONE NETWORK, AND BY THE POST OFFICE, WHICH ARRANGES THE CONVEYANCE OF THE WRITTEN WORD IN ALL ITS VARIED FORMS TO ALL CORNERS OF THE GLOBE.

SIR PHILIP SAID HONG KONG WAS NOW RECOGNISED AS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT TELECOMMUNICATIONS CENTRES IN SOUTHEAST ASIA.

/ON THE