The Correspondent, September - October 1983

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Michael Keats Editor: Kevin Sinclair

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ABOUT THE COVER: Former Prime Minister Edward Heath gave a fascinating address to a well-attended Club dinner. He was careful to skirt given details of talks he had with Chinese leaders in Peking, and of his views of the present occupant of 10 Downing Street.

fOR TIID Fo¡ further lnlormalion and rosêrvations, contact any Holiday Ìnn or our Regionêl Dirsctor of Sales, c,fo Harbour V¡ew Hol¡day lnn Hong Kong, TST PO Box S8468, 70 Mody Road, East Tsim Sha Tsu¡, Kowloon, Hong Kong. Tel: $72151ô1. T€lex: HX 38670. Cable: INNVIEW.

PROI'DSSIOIUATS

WIIO TDTI. TIID WORIJD AB(N'T BSIA

Speakers

lndustrial lnsanity Archaic trades unions practices continue to bedevil Fleet

Street with nepotism at the botparticularly nasty problem for the publishers of Britain's national papers.

Bloody-mindedness has been developed into an art form by some of the smaller union groups

tom ranks being a

which feed off newspaper

companies in much the same way as sucker fish bleed the life blood of sharks to stay alive.

A notable example are those

responsible for such mundane matters as wrapping the papers into bundles as they come off the press. This is a highly paid sinecure often handed down from

father

to son and is a

enough job

slack permit the

to often highly paid but far-from-humble workers to hold down similar jobs in more than one of the big plants which might go some way towards explaining how they can go on strike at the drop of a hat.

Other intractable unions

in-

clude machine minders like those who not long ago had the Financial Times out on strike for nine weeks.

This came at a time when the Pink Paper was striving to extend its reach and take on the lnternational Herald Tribune and the Wall Street Journal in Europe and did enormous harm to the paper.

It also cost the publishers an estimated $ 140 million while netting the 24 men responsible for the strike an additional $105 a week.

The Financial Times is in the happy position of being able to

bear such heavy burdens but

many another Fleet Street paper financial disaster if it faced such a strike.

The machinists who hold the paper to ransom could, of course, always get a labouring job elsewhere; those who stand to lose most are journalists who through no fault of their own find themselves held to blackmail by such industrial hooliganism no less than the proprietors of the newspapers concerned.

K.S.

who be plunged into

The Club has recently been fortunate indeed to attract a string of provocative and interesting speakers. ln addition to Mr Heath, who appears on the cover of this issue of The Correspondent, there has been a string of visiting dignataries over past weeks who have given us the benefit of their time.

These included the national security advisor to President Kenne-

dy, Walt Rostow; the "prisoner of Peking" former Reuters man Anthony Grey; adventurer John Blashford-Snell and editors of Hongkong's three locally-owned English language newspapers.

ln future months, Club officials hope for further topical speakers

at the Club. lf any members has

any suggestions about visitors to Hongkong who could be potential

speakers, please contact man-

ager Heinz Grabner.

*** Respected American academic

Walt Rostow addressed a

Club lunch and called for the establishment of an Asian-Pacific forum to

discuss how best to spread the word on technological and resources development.

The first problem on this agenda could be the vital one of energy, he said.

The former special assistant on national security to Presrdent John Kennedy, Rostow said a major problem was how to grow enough food to feed growing populations.

The world, he said, was going through the fourth industrial revolution.

organised crime. The usual life expectancy of anyone engaged in this sort of activity in Manila is about five seconds.

Batuigas may be a brave man but he is certainly not a stupid one. He knows his life is

THE MAN FROM TEMPO

constantly in danger and he takes precautions. During a recent trip to Manila [before the killing of Aquinol I had lunch

with him in the old

National

Press Club.

I'd known Ruther, on and off, for 12 years having met him in Hong Kong in 1971

Two Gun Batuigas does it again!

when he was here for a story about a gang of Filipino gunmen who had arrived to grab a so-called American movie starlet. She had some indiscreet disclosures to make about her alleged romantic attachments with an extremely

Part private eye, part mercenary, part

for the oppressed, Ruther Batuigas is, above all, a newsman extraordinaire. ln his 24years in Manila newspapers, the guntoting reporter has been shot, stabbed. uncovered hundreds of stories and acted as negotiator in hostage dramas. lt's all in a normal day's work for The Man From Tempo. ombudsman

Ruther Batuigas has done it again! And his friends are not surprised. When the Philippines Constabulary, military

investigators and armies of other security men failed to come up with the identity of the unknown corpse found alongside the body of slain Senator Benigno Aquino, Ruther started looking.

It wasn't long before his paper, the bouncy tabloid TEMPO, had named the dead man correctly Rolana well-known gundo Galman, for-hire. What's more, Ruther and his team of crack reporters tracked down the addresses of Galman's family, only to find

out that all his relatives

had

been whisked away by armed men in civilian clothes immediately after the assassination.

At that stage, the military were claiming they had no idea of

high Filipino official.

Hong Kong police rounded

up the men and they were

the identity of the man whom they say killed Aquino alone in what was virtually a suicide attack lif their version is accepted.l It was a great scoop, but the

sort of thing that is all in a normal days work for the co-

lourful Batuigas. ln many ways, he is one of the last hangovers from the wild old days of the Manila press in the years

before martial law when

a

tommy-gun came in almost as handy for a reporter as a type-

writer and almost every

photographer carried a pistol as well as a camera.

Batuigas is a living legend in the Filipino press. That he is living at all is a miracle. At first glance, he does not appear to be the sort of material of which legends are made, but then Ruther pulls up his shirt and reveals his stomach and chest.

It looks like the craters on the moon; he has been shot three or four times [he doesn't recall, exactly] once at close range by a shotgun loaded with heavy shot, once by a .45 revolver.

He's also been stabbed a couple of times, but he considers that hardly worthy of mention.

The result is not a pretty sight. He has also shot back; Batuigas has shot dead at least six men but says the killings were in self defence. Police have never proceeded with any murder charges against him.

Ruther Batuigas is

a

small, pencil moustache, a big Filipino smile and a silver .45 automatic -in his belt. He needs it. Over his 24 years in the Manila

slender man

with a

press, he has uncovered

scores of stories on police corruptยกon, political plots and

returned to Manila [they all had diplomatic passportsl but not before the leader of the group advised me never to go back to the Philippines. A couple of weeks later, this man was killed in one of the periodic political gunbattles that used to rage through the country before martial law was declared and most gun-toting Filipinos had to give up their weapons.

But not Ruther. With martial law came the enforced closure of most of the Manila press and he found himself out of a job. So he started a private detective agency, acting mostly as a bounty hunter rounding up criminals for the posted rewards. lt was a lot of fun but when a job back on a paper came up, he went back to a newsroom. He still has his security company, a private army of 4OO men with whom he keeps in contact via a private communication system linked to his bullet-proof car.

There's not much that goes

on in Manira that Ruther Batuigas does not hear about. Even by the lively and loose standards of the Filipino press, his stories are, to say the least, outspoken. A couple of weeks ago he had 1 1 libel writs out against him for about 650 mil-

lion. "Situation normal," he

grins.

He gets his news from his security guards [many of them bodyguards of senior government officials or leading businessmen who fear kidnap] and from another army of underworld informers, most of them crimnals. He is also trusted by senior policemen. On several occasions, would-be kidnappers have been surrounded by

security

forces and

Ruther Batuigas has been called in as the only person trusted by both sides. He has stripped to

his underpants to show he is unarmed and walked into buildings occupied by desperate criminals or terrorists and talked them into surrender.

Why do they listen to him

rather than

the

police.

He

shrugs: "l suppose they want to get out alive. " Driving through Manila with Ruther is a lively experience.

Everyone knows him. Police stop traffic to let him through.

He talks about the threats on his life.

ls he still allowed to carry a gun? "Oh, yeah," he says, and pulls out a silver-plated .45 automatic. What about his driver? The chauffer casually displays a .357 magnum.

Ruther leans over into the back of the limosine and pulls up an automatic assault rifle. He's also got a case of grenades in the boot just in case he runs into serious trouble.

He sips his beer in the National Press Club and admits:

"l love working on news-

papers. You can still have a bit of fun. "

Wife

SefVยกCe mOVeS

Hong Kong veteran Alan Thomas has been appointed news editor, eastern region, Reuters Asia. ln his 18 years with the agency he has been posted in Hong Kong, Singapore, USSR and Tanzania as well as the home office in London.

Thomas succeeds Peter Mosley who has been named regional assocยกate

editor. ln

this post, Mosley will carry the special burden of introducing complex video-editi ng systems.

He is well qualified for the job; he has worked in the space capital of Houston and is a former science

editor of Reuters.

James Foley has been moved from Japan, where he was

chief correspondent

for

Reuters, becomes

editor-in-charge of the world desk in Hong Kong.

Good news

from reuters lf

Reuters goes public, the

value is estimated as being something in the order of $7 billion, a tidy amount in anyone's currency, even the hard-pressed Hong Kong dollar.

It is probable that the likelihood of Reuters being floated on the London Stock Exchange is nowhere being followed more avidly than in the town of Burnie in the Australian island state

of

Tasmania.

Burnie? Yes, it seems the local newspaper, The Advocate, own 1.14 percent of Reuters stock, the result of a $14 investment in 1935. The present value of the investment if the flotation goes ahead? About $7 million. That's worth a few lines on the Reuters economic wire.

Bnilt$ . ümilill$ . llilllllllt$ . mTil]ll$

Home on the range w¡th Holger Holger adds: "Since we have

Woo Kyatang: Reporter with ink in his blood

a guest house which will (hopefully) turn a handsome profit during the

autumn hunting season it will only be open to broken-down, burned-

out journallstic hacks in spring, summer or winter.

"Nothing like 30-below weather to invigorate those who have become bored with the steamy atmosphere

of Bangkok

One of Hongkong's most respected and best-known journalists has wrilten his last story. After a long battle with cancer, the death occured recently, of Woo Kyatang, surely one of the most flambouyant reporters ever to wield a

After Liberation, he came to Hongkong where he swiftly made an enormous impact on journalism. Old Hands remember that in those days it was very much a case of the boys from the Big City helping out

the country bumpkins when the Shanghainese moved en masse into Hongkong

notebook.

"K.T." grew up in a hard school, the rough and tumble of preliberation Shanghai where chasing news was an exhilirating and sometimes dangerous business.

One of his early spectacular scoops was an amazing interview with a man who had killed a leading Shanghainese songstress; police had hunted in vain for the missing

newsrooms.

K.T. was but one of the newspapermen who made the exodus out of China.

But he was certainly one of the most

memorable of that lalented number. ln 1956, he was made editor-in-chief of the Hongkong Tiger Standard, a newspaper he loved with a passion until the very end. He was later to edit the China

star but it was the young K.T. Woo who found her body in a trunk designed to

Mail.

carry wardrpbe effects.

He ¡nterviewed the remorseful killer in the room with the corpse before handing the man over to detectives.

ln the 196Os, his career moved sideways into the realm of trade and he spent six years in New York represent¡ng the Colony's trading interests in North Ameri-

Along with many other Shanghainese newsmen, K.T. headed south when the city fell to the Communists. The Shanghainese contingent were to add a vibrant and spicy dash to Hongkong journalism. ln his youth, Woo Kyatang was something of a rctity, a journalist with academic qualifications. His family, a prominent

ca

Shanghainese clan, dispatched him to the Missouri School of Journalism and when

he returned home he swiftly put

his education and in-born talent to good use.

It was not long before he was manag-

ing editor of the Shanghai daily

China

Press. He made his mark in the headlines

But there was too much ink in the blood of Woo Kyatang to keep him for long away from the roar of the presses and in 1970 he returned to his first love, newspapers as special assistant to Miss

Aw Sian at the Sing Tao group. in the press of old Shanghai before World

War ll and went on to become executive

editor of the Evening Post and Mercury.

A restless, bustling man of vision, K T. founded the Pan-Asis Newspaper Alliance and the Regional News Service which catered to publ¡cat¡ons throughout the Far East.

Sydney.

She welcomes a call from any

Australian Prime Minister Robert Hawke was once noted for his ability to down the amber liquid, so much so that he found himself holding the honours for beer drinking in the Guiness Book of Records. But now that he has got a country to run he has turned a

Under.

booze.

FCC member visiting Down

and three daughters and an army of friends and admirers in- the newsrooms of Asia. K.S.

Cheers, Bob

Penny Down Under Travel writer Penny Byrne is now writing a new sort of story.

After several years wandering the Far East for Asia Travel Trade she is now holding down the PR slot at the Hilton lnternational in

When he died, K.T. had been desperately ill for a long time, too sick to see the many friends whose thoughts went out to him in hospital.

He leaves his wife, Cecilia, four sons

new leaf and sworn off the

This prompted him to remark recently in the FCC's sister institution in Brisbane, the Oueensland Journalists' Club: "lt's interesting to be surrounded by grog and journalists. I've given up one and l'm having a love-hate relationship with the other."

massage parlours.

"Letters or visits would be appreciated. The only fee is that each guest has to chop one cord of firewood per week. A cord, to the uninitiated, is a stack of firewood eight feet by four feet by four feet."

Getting the wood raises a

thirst.

Jensen says he

will take

care of that.

Holger spent years in Asia for Newsweek before his final posting to Southern Africa. Many members will recall the stark, fascinating and moving account he wrote in Newsweek when China was first reopened to outsiders and Jensen made a sentimental journey to his childhood home in Shanghai where his Danish father was a businessman.

Holger Jensen has hung up his notebook, tossed away his typewriter, departed Darkest Africa and settled down on a ranch in deepest Montana.

"Guffaw about this," the hulking Holger says in a recent letter to The Correspondent. "l am retiring

from Newsweek to become

a

Montana Big Game Guide and Outf itter.

"lf I can't keep the family fed on moose, I may have to turn to a bit of freelance writing and, when I am snowed in during the winter, pretend to be a struggling novelist."

lf you should be in the vicinity of Troy, Montana, and need a bit of company and a drink, Holger's address is Fix Ranch, Route One, Troy. lt's so remote there is no phone but he can be reached on

CB radio, callsign "BIGFOOT" which is appropriate for someone who wears size 13 snowboots.

Alternatively, FCC members in the area can contact him at the bar of the Dirty Shame Saloon in the metropolis of Yaak, Montana.

Telling the corruption story One of the Club's best-known members has taken on the Herculean task of spreading the anti-corruption

in the Colony. He is Kenneth Ko, a former senior reporter on the South China Morning Post and a newsman with extensive contacts in both local and foreign media. message

Ko began life in journalism in lively times, as a young legman on The Star during the Cultural Revolution. By night, he would patrol the streets with police as whiffs of teargas mixed with the odour of gunpowder from boml:s planted by rioters. By day, he was dispatched to Sheung Shui railway stat¡on, which in those days was as close as one could get to the border,

to interview new arrivals from China.

Some of the stories unearthed

by Ko and other reporters on what became known as "The Arrivals Beat" were scarcely believable. lt was not until years later when the

full savagery of the Cultural Revolution and its purges, massacres and slaughter became known that work of the "arrivals" reporters was fully appreciated. From The Star, Ko went to the SCM Post where he covered a wide variety of reporting tasks, especially local politics and community affairs. Then he left to join the corporate affairs office of EXXON he was assistant news editor

of the paper. ln his new job, Ko has an unenviable but important task, convincing the public that tea money is not needed to oil the wheels of commerce nor to pay to receive service from public servants. lt promises to be a demanding job, but

one to which he looks forward. Any FCC member who wishes to be briefed on what Hong Kong is doing to combat corruption is welcome to contact Ken Ko on 5-227660.

Ko, incidently, has a couple

of revolutionary notions about graft and how it affects Hong Kong. He believes that in the present economic climate it is vital that the Colony's manufacturing products are known be produced in a climate where under-the-counter payments do not boost prices or detract from quality.

This, he says, will help assure over-

to

that what they pay is what they get, unlike the

seas customers

for

situation that prevails in some other countries in the region.

"Corruption is not merely a problem of a $10 payoff in a back alley." he says. "lt has ramifications that can affect the entire economy of the community."

What Hong Kong can do about this problem is the story Kenneth Ko is telling in his role as chief spokesman for the lndependent Commission Against Corruption.

_T

Free Advertising In Hongkotg Ctty The Large.st Ci rculation

Bi-lingual@ine

InTown

Yes, most advertising in Hongkong City is absolutely free.

immediately scrutinise costs. They no longer stop advertising.

They do demand response.

When there is talk of recession'bottom-line'watchers

This is why advertising volume in 'Hongkong City' the maganne for Hongkong Bank Visa cardholders will show tremendous growth during 1983.

From newsman to

Life begins at 60

spokesman Many journalists who have covered Australian and Southeast

Asian affairs will know respected Sydney broadcaster Gary Scully.

For years he headed the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's big office in Jakarta and was a familiar figure in watering holes in the region, not least in the old FCC bar at Suther-

land House.

After 30 years as a radio and television reporter, Scully has now jumped to the other sÌde of the fence. Appointed head of the

To the majority of advertisers this advertising will be absolutely free!

Yes free ! Here are just a few examples of high quality, image concious advertisers who decided that selling was not a dirty word. By presenting 'Hongkong City' readers with a tasteful merchandising message they show a handsome profit on their advertising.

Advertise in Hongkong City and put a selling message in your advertisements. Your quality image will be secure and at least this part of your advertising will be paid for . . . by somebody else !

Austral ian federal government's National Media Liason Service, Scully now heads a team of journalists whose job is to translate the policies of the Australian Government into terms sufficiently simple for newsmen to understand.

ln a recent interview with The Correspondent, Scully invited roving FCC members to contact him in Canberra or his staff in any of the state capitals of Australia if they needed help or information.

Cutting into a surprise birthday cake delivered to his basement lair is Frank Hydes. When Frank is not playing dice he sometimes takes time out to sell boats but when he turned 60 recently wife Cynthia was on hand to track him down with a birthday cake and found him around the Yangtse table in the sports room. His dice-playing cronies had also not forgotten him; they presented him with a special set of dice on which one side of the cubes carried not a number but the embossed initial "F".

Holmes'leave ñ ilih{ ú, l,}

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Many Club members bade a reluctant farewell to a pair of popular members recently when Christopher and Stephanie Holmes left Hong Kong to settle in America.

Chris was with the PR section of the Tourist Association for the past couple of years and Stephanie was a talented book editor who was assigned work on a number of major books during their time in Hong Kong.

At a farewell party, one of their friends remarked that the Holmes were typical FCC members. Chris was the son of the late Sir Ronnie Holmes, a top public servant who held down most senior jobs during his many years with the government.

He was educated in Hong Kong and London and was working in publishing in Britain where he met his Mexican-born American wife.

The publishing pair expect to produce a new edition to the Holmes family about Chinese New Year, which is why Chris has chosen this time to leave Hong Kong to return to his career in publishing

in America.

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Early history of Clubhouse

lowing the usual practice of submitting the property to public auction That was a bare-faced fraud or some thing near it; this is another; but as it does not necessarily follow that Major-General

"Abare-faced lraud" The erection of a building at the intersection of Lower Albert Road and lce House Street in the early 189Os met with violent opposition from some of the English lang The attack on the decision to g came under heavy attack, led Richard Frazer Smith who had b founded the Hongkong Telegraphin 1881.

It was a newspaper which did not beat around the bush. When it had something to say, Frazer Smith said it btuntly. What he had to say about the "Pedder He;ghts land grab" makes facinating reading nine decades later.

Thè building at the centre of the furore is today, of course, the FCC club house. Frazü Smith was dr¡ven into one of his periodic rages because the Government granted the dairy cornpany the land under-thejcounter for a low price without go¡ng through the customary auction procedures.

"A scandalous attempt at official jobbery," The Tele-

-

About two years ago the Hong Kong Dairy Farm Co. Ltd., through the personal influence of the Directors, obtained from Governor Des Voeux a grant on very favourable terms of that narrow strip of land lying to the eastward of Wyndham Street, stretching from Pedder's H¡ll to the bottom of the old Glenealy ravine.

We believe that this famous old landmark of Hong Kong is now known as the Lower Albert Road, but as the crawl¡ng worm who degraded the spot with such a name is probably dead long ago

if he is - by the we pass further comment.

that the Colony has known since

not he ought 1s þs desecrat¡on withoutFourteen yeafs ago a very large sum of public money was extended by surveyor General Price in erecting the very -substantial granite wall which protects the

of one sort or other. For in-

preaches practical philanthrophy; Dr. Cantlie practices it. Mr. Sharp tickles his

"Lactile lunacy" Robin McLean and Carl Smith digging through old newspapers hunting Hong Kong Telegraph May 3, 1892 The approaching competition of the Dairy Farm Company's buildings on Pedder's Hill affords a favourable opportunity for referring to the meanest fraud ever perpetuated on a colony of helpless slaves through the mental aberrations of a very sick man, in the hands of sharp and

the

valuable Hong Kong mint plant and machinery were "jobbed" to be immaculate firm Jardine, Matheson and Co. at a purely nominal figure. There have been lots of other robberies of public propenies and rights intervening, but these two, in our

unscrupulous money markets.

The only redeeming feature in the swindle is that the eleventh hour is not yet past, there is still time to right the wrong done and to undo one of the numerous deeds which disgraced the latter days of

opinion 'take the cake'.

the poor failing governor Des Voeux in this colony, and which showed how he suffered from a mens insana in corpore

For two years the Dairy Farm

made no attempt to

Co. build on the valuable

lot they had secured by government e¡ 5e¡¡s1þing; perhaps they chicanery - of their conduct! perhaps were ashamed

insano, and how the colony suffered by his ailment

they got into the hands of the so-called

architects and could not get again! and at

length the government gave them the notice that unless the milk-shop was run

'

up within a certain t¡me, the original concession would be cancelled.

One consequence of that reminder, Mr. Granville Sharp and his colleagues have determined to construct their central office, shop and storeroom for the disposal of the lacteal fluid to all and sundry and without delay. But they will do nothing of the kind, if the citizens of Hongkong are true to themselves. The grant of this land was a mean job, which ought to have been publicly notified at the time. There has been, we believe, one notorious precedent in recent years when gover-

nor Bowen or "Honest -Bill" Marsh al-

the lowed Jardine, Matheson and Co. frequency of this firm's identity with- these cloudy transactions becomes wearisome or the lce Company to annex the well -known premises in lce House Lane at a fract¡on of their actual value, without fol-

block up for purely commercial purposes one of the main arteries of the city, to the acknowledged detriment of the public health, should be vigorously protested against. A more unsuitable site for a milkshop, or far away other shop, could not be found in the colony. Let the residents whose rights and privileges are infringed by this scandalous attempt at official jobbery take immediate action to prevent such a piece of vandalism; we are quite sure that either Mr Ryrie of Mr. Whitehead will be glad to lead a popular criusade against this latest phase of government double-dealing.

simple fact would have saved the Hongkong Government from be¡ng conv¡cted of about the meanest and mustiest job

But times changed, and a governor

stance the present chairman, Mr. Granville Sharp, is an economical and theoretical philanthropist, whilst Dr. James Cantlie is a very reckless but distinctly practical member of the order. Mr. Granville Sharp

(

have suited the Dairy Farm Company much better, and the knowledge of that

decided that no building or other conspicuous obstruction should ever be allowed to impede the free air of heaven in what even in those days was recognized as one of the lungs of a c¡ty already grossly overcrowded in almost every part.

And for more than a decade the decision arrived at when Sir Arthur Kennedy held away in our midst remained unchallenged and unaltered.

throp¡sts

;l

d

Anyhow, after some correspondence w¡th the Hongkong governmenl, the site already referred to was granted on what can be described as favourable business terms. A shop on Oueen's Road would

roadway on the unoccupied side of Wyndham Street. At that time it was

arrived who knew not Joseph. The Hongkong Dairy Farm has always been run on purely philanthropic lines; its founders, promoters, and directors have been from the commencement, more or less, philan-

labour and "gets there

progfamme.

Clubhouse. His research was assisted by PRO archivist Robyn Mclean, herself a well-known historian and frequent visitor to the Club.

Monday,

of

somehow".

And he certa¡nly got at the high-toned and immaculate members of the Executive Council who smiled when governor Des Voeux smiled, and wept crocodile tears when the latter day narrow minded official bigot looked sad. The aim of the Dairy Farm Company was to obtain a central depot where they could sell milk retail at a price that would bring it within the reach of all. The directors said that was their chief aim but, leaving Dr. Cantlie out, we doubt the alsolute truth of this

the Public Records Office and has come up with a number of articles dealing with the early days of our

Hong Kong Telegraph Aug.31, 1881

decessor, we would stronglY recommended that this nefarious attempt to

own harmless vanity; the Doctor survives

the throes

graph cried.

- "The meanest and mustiest job the city has known."

"A fraud on a colony of helpless slaves."

Historian Carl Smith has been delving into old files in

"Grawling worm"

Barker is bound by-the shady doings of his thick-headed but weak-kneed pre-

ll u

h is fortunate for us that he got just bad enough to realise for himself that he could hold on no longer, and had to go home; otherwise Hongkong would now be a miniture reproduction of the German Empire, with a sick and silly ruler grading his subjects to rebel against him. Lord, we thank thee that we are not as the Germans arel

Early in 189O Sir W. Des Voeux was sick unto death, and was attended by Dr.

Cantlie great credit

is due to this

able

medico for pulling him through, as he has pulled many better men through, and we have particular reason to know and appreciate his worth.

He prescribed a milk diet for the ailing governor, which succeeded so well that the patient was convinced it saved his life.

He waxed enthusiastic over milk, and, carefully nursed and humoured he soon became a milky maniac. Now, was the

philanthropists chance, Dr. Cantlie, it should not be forgotten, has been from almost the first a prominent pillar of the Dairy Farm Company, Ltd.

for stories about the early days of the Club He is no doublt actuated PurelY bY philanthropic and hygienic considerations; not for a moment would we, nor could

anyone who know him imagine that he has any other reason for supporting the Dairy Farm except the honest conviction that it is a great boon to the publ¡c, and an invaluable aid to health in this none too healthy colony. But even the good doclor can be too devoted; he cannot see that his hygienic devotion to milk, his milk fever, if we may so call it, is being used as a source of profit by the other shareholders in the Dairy Farm Company, who are bent simply on making money. lt is a jointstock limited liability company formed as a purely commercial enterprise, and in its prospectus the company's raison d'etreis plainly and baldly said to be "to transact business and to earn dividends".

It is not a charitable institution, and that is where Dr. Cantlie made a mistake.

He was so full of medical philanthropy

that he could see nothing else. So he worked up poor sick governor Des Voeux, as before remarked, and got him to do a great favour to this limited liability company,. to these speculators bent only on getting money, as it happened, the particular favour asked constituted a breach of the law, a transfer of land in violation of the "Crown Lands Ordinance"

-

in

fact, a theft.

Also, it happened that the theft is not

complete. The thieves have been caught unless in the act, and may be stopped the guardians of the law are handsomely remunerated for winking the other eye.

Sir W. Des Voeux promised the Dairy Farm Company a lease of a plot of crown land at the corner of Wyndham Street and lce House Lane, opposite St. Paul's Col-

house'

lege and the Hong Kong Telegraph otfice.

One of the conditions was

to

be that

company should spend a certain amount of money in building on the ground, and when that done they should have the lease. This auspicious climax is due on about six weeks. But the other conditions are the illegal part of the business. lnstead of the land being put up for public auction and knocked down to the highest bidder, as provided by the ordinance, and instead of keeping the land

the

vacant as a breathing space, under the agreement made fourteen years ago instead when surveyor Price was king - the land of doing either of these things, was to be quietly sneaked by the company, for the nominal price of about $1OO cash down, and $416 per annum crown rent, for 5548 square feet of the best land in the heart of the city.

That was to be the rent, as long as

nothing but milk business was to be done; but if the land were used for anything else, or rented by anybody else, the rent would be some $ 150 per annum more.

This private transfer of public land was to be made as soon as the company built

its offices, for which

permission was given by a temporary agreement. Now,

therefore, this agreement was illegal, and cannot legally be considered binding; if the property is to be disposed of by the Crown, ¡t must be disposed of by public auction; then the Dairy Farm Company can buy at the auction or make lheir own terms with any others who may buy it.

No government has a right to break the law in the interests of a commercial venture which is palmed off as a work of philanthropy to benefit the entire com-

munrty.

11

Introducing the Econet@

for BBC Microcomputer

Galled to the bar...

Now there is a srmple and cosl-effecttve way to ltnk up a senes of mrcrocomputers lt ls the Econet system, created by Acom computers the team whrch desrgned the BBC Microcomputer The Econet ne[work system, whtch ts on]y a Íraction of the cost of comparable networks, allows up to 254 computers to commuûlcate with each othel and to share expensrve resources such as pllnlers or dlsc dnves

In education Computers in educatÌon have two matn areas of appLcat¡ons: Computer Studtes and Computer Assisted Leamrng In bolh areas the Acorn Econet has a malor contnbution to make as a low-cost networhng system A typrcal Econet rnstallatton allovrs fully Interactive teaching and Computer Asststed Learnrng, as well as the sharing of disc storage and expensive penphelals

In industry

The Econet ha¡ tremendous scope for use tn tndustrlal apphcatìons For example. the Econet can be tncorporated rnto factory data colìecllon systems The malority of the data collection systems used in factorÌes lmplement a master-slave system where a mulu-lasking central computer polls data collectlon

points conlinuously

In business

In the modern busrness enuronment, managers requrre rmmediate access to up to date ìnformatlon, easy rntemal communicatìon v\rlthln the company and low caprtal expenditu¡e on overheads such as offtce equipment The Acom Econet can be used as the heart of busÌness systems that provrde these requlremen[s Inlormatìon entered ua workstations on the Econet may be stored in central dtsc filing sysÌems that can be confÍgured to allow open oI restncted access to files Having been entered, up to date tnformatton may be retrieved by those who need it Moreover, data retrieved from slorage may be processed at a statlon to gjve immedrate resuìts; for example. new data may be used in a linanctal planning program to gtve rmmedlate confirmation of the progress of a particular busrness plan The Econet also allows the use of eìectronrc marl. messages may be sent between stat¡ons usrng lhe NOTITY command With the VIEW word processing program for the BBC Mlcrocomputer the Econet's use of shared penpherals drasticalÌy reduces the spend¡ng requtred on office equrpment, as one correspondence quality pnnler may be utrhsed by all lhe stations on the network Econet ts hlghly rehable The failure ofone 'slatton' on the network does nol affecl the others The system bas been rn use for over two years Nearly 200 ìnstallatrons have been made so far

Broader horizons

There were some old familiar faces in the Club recently as the 1997 issue and

Hongkong's cloudy future drew many

journalists to the Colony. But there were also plenty of old regulars around the main bar.

Clockwise from top left: Corky Alexan-

der (Tokyo Weekender) was in town to see old buddy Jim Shaw of Off Duty.

What the fashionable City gent wears David Miller of USIS. lan Ward of London Daily Telegraph shared a glass with Gav¡n Young of the Observer. All eyes on the future when ex-lawyer now rentrepreneur Brian Tisdal chats to Clare Hollingworth.

Former vice-president Frank Beattie, now a top cable news TV executive in America, with Tony Paul of Readers Digest.

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I

Begging bowls for

Amnesia As Honorary

Disconsulate-

General of the Republic of Amne-

sia, it is sometimes mY unhaPPY task to adjudicate on debts owing

by Amnesian concerns who buY goods or services from the good people of Hong Kong. I therefore crave space in your esteemed journal to indicate that a number of publishers in mY country are experiencing cash difficulties, and members of the Club maY wish to consult my office before embarking on the supply of materials to them.

illustrations clipped from the lllustrated Oxford Dictionary. Unsolicited material gladly accepted and all requests for payment sedulously ignored.

On a happier note, however, the Amnesian Government departments and allied institutions are good payers, if you write kindly materials. The Amnesian daily newspapers pay promptly and with accuracy (English language, 15 HK cents a word, vernacular 5 HK cents a word). Air Amnesia pays in one-way tickets to Tindouf, and Amnesian Bottling pays in Mother Machree's Genuine Olde Sourmashe Arrack No. 4. The film industry pays in young ladies or Swiss frances, at the author's choice.

I trust that these details are of assistance to your esteemed members. ln the event of problems, my staff at Topless Milk Bar, Jaffe Raod. Wanchai, stand

always ready (office hours 11 p.m. to 3 a.m.)to lend a motherly

shoulder to your members, staunch upholders of the free-

dom, freeloading and free-pass-

A short list of

Amnesian pub-

ing of the press.

Nicholas Dutt.

lishers may be of service to your

Orders by phone. Produces medi-

um six months later, pays two years later.

3. Snazzyprint Communications Consultants, Suites 23-25, Goldbrick Centre, Beautiful

Downtown Rapa City. Business magazines, "How to Make a Billion Without Really Trying", "The Tycoon's Guide to Stolen Credit Cards", etc. Uses p.r. material, unacknowledged reprints and 14

planned Bhotography yearbook.

He has been in contact with

the Professional PhotograPhY As-

sociation of the Philippines and with photographic societies in Taiwan and Singapore. He even received a letter in English from a group of 20 professional photographers in Peking saying that theY would be shortly submitting their entries. Heading the selection panel for "Asia-Pacific Photography" is Australian photographer

Manual", "The History of the Bombay Lighter-Flint lndustry", "A General Theory of Fraud, Theft and Malversa-

tion", etc.).

It was at this point that the Minister of

the lnterior made an offer to the corre-

spondents, that they could take over the premises for a monthly rental, relieving the government budget, on far from burdensome conditions namely, that they - about Amnesia, would not write anything would return to the premises between

a.m. for roll-call,

Fam¡ly Fun

and

(and FCC member) Bob Davis.

Among the other members of

the selection panel will be

the Director of the Hong Kong Photo-

graphic lnstitute, Philip Tse; photographers Frank Fischbeck and Dinshaw Balsara, camera designer and former photo journalist Frank Wolfe; the editor-in-chief of Discovery magazine, Derek A. C.

Davies; the creative director of H¡ll and Knowlton Asia Ltd., Werner Hahn, Bing Wong of Time Magazine and lan Buruma of the Far Eastern Economic ReVIEW.

"Asia

Pacific Photography" will consist of 2OO pages of high quality colour and black and white plates on art paper. lt will be on sale in bookshops and photographic supply stores worldwide.

Birch Writes Old FCC hand Tim Birch wants to come back for a holidaY - and if anY FCC member wishes to swap flats with him in New Zealand he will be delighted' Tim, formerly of RTHK and now of

would entertain no more than two visitors at any one time (this last condition has meanwhile been abolished).

The club is thus one of the best of its kind in the world. Far from the madding crowd, and from editors, sub-editors, owners, etc., the premises lie in sylvan

New Zealand Broadcasting where he stars in a world news wrap-up show, writes to

Mary Lee found herself in solitary conf¡nement when she went

to a farewell lunch'with colleagues from the Far Eastern Eco-

nomic Review. But her imprisonment d¡d not last long; it was all part of the party when Lee was farewelled by virtually the entire staff of the magazine at a long and memorable meal at P¡nocchio's restaurant in Macau. say he has a mountainside flat overlooking Wellington harbour. He is prepared to swap it for the use of a leave flat in Hongkong for six weeks over the Christmas period. lf you're interested, write to Ïim at P. O. Box 3062, Wellington, New Zealand.

But, he warns, there are no amahs and you'll have to learn to do your own washing up.

surroundings and are absolutely secure

from robbers, arsonists, public relations people, government spokesmen, comput-

er salesmen and so on. The boundaries are electronically proof against telephone, telex or any other data tranmission mode

of any nature.

An airy refectory, swimming pool and sauna (which used to be called the "hot box") are included in the facilities. Secure,

pay.

2. Fauntleroy Press lnc., Regd Shack 49, Government Transit Area, Dozing Bahru (or P.O. Box 10599G). House magazines, etc.

Jaffi Yee, of the Hong Kong based publishing house, MYer Publishing Ltd., reports that he is receiving plenty of positive reaction from all over Asia in response to his plea for professional photographers to submit their best recent photographs on Asian topics for inclusion in his

Asian Novel, or that definitive work of academic rigour, that they had long intended to do. Between 1972 and 1976, five became millionaires from best-sellers ("Love is a Many-Splintered Thing," "Dick and Jane Discover the Blue Lagoon", etc.) and nine received honorary degrees from Princeton, Berkeley, Bangalore Tech, West Hartlepool Poly, etc., for academic works ("The Asset-strippers'

6

Behind Bars

Photography Yearbook

the capital. Although facilities were somewhat spartan at first, with the assistance of the "alternative economy" the members furnished the premises to a fairly high standard by the end of their second year of residence.

This they were able to do, because the correspondents, for the first time in their lives, had the leisure to wr¡te that Great

midnight and

members, especially those freelancers who skulk in stone-washed "Saigon" safari suits, begging drinks at the less fashionable end of the bar, and to whom our hearts go out: 1. Amnesian Publishing Corporation, Mezzanine 4a (Bathroom), Ah Yuck Building, Menda City.

Coffee-table quarterlies. The company diligently sends signed contracts for all materials ordered, but equally diligently fails to

First Asia-Pacific

The opportunity arose during Amnesia's seventeenth post-1945 coup, when the rascally Portli Rumbel was overthrown by the Saviour of the Nation, Lendussa Kwidd. When the dust of the coup had settled, it was discovered that most of the membership had been arrested and held under protective custody in Camp Torquemada, some twelve miles out of

private rooms are available for those sentimental moments with one's loved

A.A.C.C.

rec¡procity Your members may be interested to

know that the Amnesian Alien Corre-

spondents' Club would be willing to offer reciprocal membership. As is well known, Amnesia ("Cultured Pearl of the East") is where journalists often go to get "away from it all", and perhaps nowhere can one do this more thoroughly than in the club.

The club began, modestly enough, in

the back bar of

1

Madame Frou-frou's

Chupatty Parlour and Arrack Tavern, but as membership grew it became the aim to secure more permanent premises.

ones.

Members who wish to avail themselves of this unique form of club life need only contact my consular staff at the Topless Milk Bar, Jaffe Road, Wanchai.

Nicholas Dutt Hon. Disconsulate-General

P.S.: The rascally Lendussa Kwidd has

since been succeeded by the lllustrious and All-Wise Ah Fooey.

Ah Fooey has been succeeded by the Heaven-Sent P.P.S.: The rascally

Leader of His People Hamish McMukkerji.

Captain Edward Farrow of the Merchant Officers' Guild shares a drink and a laugh with his charming daughter during a recent tri7 she made to visit him in Hongkong.

the extra care movers for international household shipping personalized service free estimates

Tel,5-778026 15

lour pix in The

Art of Colour Photography by John Hedgecoe.

Published by Dawn

Anyone who has ever clicked a shutter will love this book. From the rankest amateur to the most skilled professionals there is something here for everyone.

The author (and I wish the book had more biographical details of his career) has done a masterly job in explaining just how colour photography works. ln addition, he has illustrated his lectures with a brilliant selection of photographs.

He begins with a series of stunning examples of

how the colourful world can be captured on film, then launches into a description of just whafcolour is and how it is "seen" by the brain. (Did you know the lbos of Nigeria have only four words in their language to describe the entire spectrum?) ln this 3OO-page book, the author and editors explore every aspect of capturing light on film.

Techniques such as composition, balance, silhouettes, texture, tone and hue and perspective are examinèd. With each theme there are valuable examples of what the author is trying to say in the form of photographs, most of which he took himself

.

There are pages on such specialised ideas as the

lights of the seasons and the times of day, how harsh tropical more liquid lighting to be found in colder climates at dusk in autumn.

Mr Hedgecoe examines the special techniques needed to take successful pictures in mist and fog (with some startling pictures) and also discusses and illustrates how to snap the shutter to get best results

in rain and snow, heat and storms nd

underwater.

Then he moves to specialised subjects with hints on how to photograph children and animals, archi-

tecture and sports, fashion and landscapes, portraits and interiors.

For the amateur, the value in this book seems to me to be in the simple explanations of how the camera works and how to capture on film what you see with the naked eye. For those of more sophisticated tastes, the section on greater interest while for the professionals the chapters on colour materials and methods and the mysteries of the darkroom will probably be of most interest.

But for everyone, this will be, first of all, a book to look at and admire as well as one to read. There is a pleasing balance of text and photographs and they complement each other superbly.

A worthy addition to the newsman's bookshelf.

Even if you don't take pictures yourself, it explains

Former British Prime Minister Edward Heath

packed the Club when he gave a dinner speech.

It

cÒ

-tt'

followed his visit

to

China where he met

Comrade Deng Xiaoping and other leaders in peking

coNGRA'tu!ÀTtoNSl

LooKs LIKE YOu,vE STAR.IED \^/oRl rì wAPTI{REE ,Ni WELLI

and there was a great deal of interest in what Mr Heath would have to say.

how others carry on their craft.

16

17

T_

Newsmen make good

Flying visit Through the Club recently passed Pakistani diplomat Asfar

Shafqat, one of the most popular

diplomatic members ever to grace the FCC. The visit was all-too-brief; Asfar was here only for a couple of days after an official visit to Japan.

During the years he spent in Hong Kong, the amiable Asfar was press secretary to the Pakistani Consulate and he was invariably helpful and cooperative with the press.

Club officials were deluged

with

messages from members who heard that Shafqat was in town, but he had to leave before most of his

friends could pay their respects.

Hopefully, he will be back soon and for a longer stay.

-

Award Fernando del Mundo, UPI's

for the Philippines, the 1982 Catholic Press

bureau manager has won

Award for best reporting in the

A couple of newsmen-madegood were spotted at the bar recently during the usual Friday Night Fever drinks gathering. Both are now promient figures in banking and commerce.

Tim Williams (left) was raised in Hong Kong where his late father was a respected and educator specialising vocational training. studied Chinese and

of

much-loved

in technical

and

He diligently his knowledge both the written and spoken

language stood him in good stead when he covered Chinese affairs for the old China Mail. When that

paper folded a decade ago, Williams

watched China for financial institutions instead of newspapers. Today,

he is Area Manager for the People's Republic of China for Lloyds Bank I nternational.

Arthur Miller is another to have escaped from the journalistic rat race into the realms of corporate affairs. The former writer and editor for a string of newsletters, including the influential China Letter, he is now regional manager of public affairs for Du Pont Asia Pacific Ltd. Some aged reporter once said that the most successful newsmen were the ones who didn't work for newspapers. (That was in the fardistant days before radio and

America's Cup race, Charlie Smith was buying bubbly in the main bar.

Charlie, a stalwart son of Old

YOUCANDEPEND

Ghampion of the

ON USI

GUeS

television.) He could have been talking about Williams or Miller.

Ghampagne Gharlie is the name As Australian Club members went wild to celebrate the victory of their country's yacht in the

country.

Del Mundo was cited "for this series of reports in 1982 on the Philippines which showed a uniform quality of accuracy, fairness, clarity of style and depth of perception."

Alabama, said he wanted to show that not all Americans were as bad sportsmen as the members of the New York Yacht Club.

The champagne was Australian, too.

The world snooker chamPion, Steve Davis, was on hand to Present the prizes for the annual champions

who won the Battle of the Green Baize. Ace cueman Mike Winslow (teft) reaped the honours for pool as usual - while Howell Givelin romped home in the snooker competition.

-

TheSwireGrouP

.4

.f.

RothmansWorldleader HK GOVERNMENT HEALTH WARNING: CTGARETTE SMOKING IS HAZARDOUS TO YOUR HEALTH MIDDLE TAR (MANUFACTURERS ESTIMATE)