Radio_Hong_Kong_1963-1964 — Page 21

chosen from a panel of outside contributors who have been trained for this specialized form of broadcasting.

FEATURES AND DOCUMENTARY PROGRAMMES

53. The responsibility for the production of features and documentary programmes for the English Service changed hands during the year. The previous producer had been on secondment from the B.B.C. and he returned to that organization at the beginning of 1963. His replace- ment was in fact appointed shortly thereafter but the officer concerned proceeded on vacation leave and was not able to take up her duties till her return in October, 1964. Nevertheless the output of locally produced features was maintained by other members of the English Service staff and by outside contributors.

54. The severe water shortage was a subject which readily lent itself to this form of programme production. Features such as "The Graph of Concern' and 'The Problem of Water' were designed to draw attention to the crisis and to describe how the public could co-operate with the Waterworks Office to help to alleviate the situation.

55. Amongst other features of note were 'Mother of 76', the story of Mildred DIBDEN who ran a home for orphan children for many years; "To Fulfill A Need', a documentary programme about the new Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Hong Kong, the largest and best equipped hospital in the East; "The Unquiet Mind', a series of three programmes about the problems of mental health and ‘Oriana', a background story about the largest commercial vessel ever to dock in Hong Kong.

56. On 31st March, 1964, Radio Hong Kong broadcast a documentary programme "The Years of Progress' covering the period in which Sir Robert BLACK, G.C.M.G., O.B.E. was Governor and Commander-in- Chief of the Colony. It told, with facts and figures and with recorded extracts of speeches, the story of some of the most impressive years of the Colony's history and development.

57. One of the most successful of the English Service projects was a series of four documentary programmes especially produced for broad- cast in the United States. They were entitled 'No Barren Island', 'A Problem of People', 'An Industrial Revolution' and 'Oriental Vacation' and told the story of the origins, growth and economic development of the Colony. The last programme described the facilities available to the ever-increasing number of tourists who come to Hong Kong to see

11