Annual report on Northern Rhodesia / Colonial Office.

  • Colonial Office
Date:
[1951]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report on Northern Rhodesia / Colonial Office. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    80/126 page 68
    Surveyors of the Directorate of Colonial Surveys carried out a triangulation survey for the control of mapping in the Western Con¬ cession, between Chingola and Solwezi. Air photographs of this area, and of very large areas of the railway line, including the whole Kafue River system, were taken by the Royal Air Force during the dry season. INFORMATION DEPARTMENT The radio, the Press, the film and the photograph are the media employed by this Department and there was steady development during the year in day to day output. As a result of research and experiment a fuller understanding was obtained of the problems that must accompany the impact upon the African of such modern methods of propaganda. There was also increased output, mainly on the Press and photographic side, directed to Europeans, a development that inevitably follows the increase in European population and the growth of the European Press. Press Section. The number of Press communiques rose to over 100 a month during the year. These communiques, sometimes rather lengthy, formed the basis of news bulletins broadcast daily to Africans from Lusaka and to Europeans from Salisbury, and they were used by all five local newspapers. They were also used to such an extent by the United Kingdom Press that coverage there now almost equals that in the South African Press. Although the issue of communiques was the main work of the Press section, the writing of over fifty feature articles for well known periodicals was also accomplished. Many of these articles were illustrated by the photographer and they were used by the Illustrated London News, Sphere, New Commonwealth, Times Review of the Colonies and many other well known journals. The circulation of the African newspaper Mutende rose to over 11,000 during the year. It still has the largest circulation of any of the African newspapers in Central Africa. Photographic Section Four film strips were produced as well as the usual large number of display pictures for use in the United Kingdom and other countries. An album of photographs of the Territory, published by Messrs. Waterlow and Sons of London, proved so successful that the whole edition of 1,000 was sold out within a few months. There was a steady flow of Press and publicity photographs to newspapers and journals all over the world. Tourism Northern Rhodesia was more popular with tourists in 1951 than ever before, judging from statistics, and they brought some £273,000
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3