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were entrusted to a Board of Management, comprised mainly of the leading Chinese members in the community. The location of the cemetery, finally authorized in 1941, was described as 'a piece of land at Tsun Wan in the New Territories of Hong Kong known as Lot No.262 Demarcation District No.446'.154
'New Kowloon Cemetery No.7,' situated at Hammer Hill, was also authorized in 1935.155 Three years later, in 1938, an urn cemetery, known as 'Hammer Hill Urn Cemetery,' containing about 90 acres and situated at Hammer Hill, was approved.156 Another extension of New Kowloon Cemetery No.7 was authorized in 1941, which was described as 'that piece of land containing about 16 acres situate to the east of the said cemetery and having Anderson Road as its western boundary.'157
Just before the Japanese invasion, a new Catholic cemetery, 'New Kowloon I.L. No.2662 (Roman Catholic) Cemetery,'158 had been erected near Piper's Hill in Cheung Sha Wan; however, no information is found regarding its setting up,159 though a 1947 government notice stated:
It is the intention of the Government to exhume all unauthorised graves in the Roman Catholic Cemetery, known as New Kowloon Inland Lot No.2662, Cheung Sha Wan, in which bodies were buried during the war period. The exhumation will commence on 1st February 1948. The remains of those known to have been of the Roman Catholic Faith will be reburied in the same cemetery, and the remains of those known to have been non-Catholic will be removed to authorised urn cemeteries for reburial unless applications for private reburial are received in the meantime...160
The Japanese Occupation Period (1941-1945)
Despite the huge loss of lives during the Japanese invasion and the subsequent occupation period,161 no cemetery of a long-term nature was established between 1942 and 1945. However, a number of 'War Emergency Cemeteries' were temporarily in use; they were:
1. Hong Kong No.1 (Emergency) Cemetery, at the Hong Kong University Playing Field in Pokfulam.162