28 Aug 1945, Chronology of Events Related to Stanley Civilian Internment Camp

Franklin Gimson broadcasts from a restaurant with a link to the old Z.B.W. radio station on the top of the Gloucester Building

As the chief representative of the British Government now resident in Hong Kong, I have already established an office in the City of Victoria, with the concurrence of the Japanese, and have in preparation the essential steps towards resuming the British administration on the arrival - which I trust will not be much longer deferred - of the British Forces to take the surrender of the Colony.

Notice the careful wording: he is not claiming to have set up an administration, only to be 'in preparation' for one. Nevertheless, the broadcast as a whole, with its congratulations to the British crown on victory in the war and its survey of conditions in Hong Kong, manages to subtly convey British authority. The transmission is a triumph for Gimson's policy of staking a British claim to continued rule over without provoking the Japanese into handing over immediate power, which Gimson knew he was unable to exercise. In fact, no claim will be necessary: the Chinese, in the absence of whole-hearted American support, have reluctantly backed down, and Admiral Harcourt is not far from Hong Kong waters.

Source:

The text of Gimson's broadcast is in the South China Morning Post for September 1st, 1945; see also G. B. Endacott and Alan Birch, Hong Kong Eclipse, 1978, 230