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Copy.
P/S:BB
XXXX CONFIDENTIAL (2).
Copied to H.M.Ambassador, Shanghai
No.89
No.95
H.M.Ambassador, Tokyo.
sir,
18 DEC 1939
C. O. RELAJ
197
Government House,
Hong Kong.
7th December, 1939.
with reference to your confidential despatch of 27th January, 1939, on the subject of the internment of Chinese soldiers in ong Kong, I have the honour to inform you with regret that fifteen interned soldiers escaped from the Ma Tau Chung Chinese Internment Camp on the night of 15th November, 1939. No information is yet available regarding the whereabouts of these men, but enquiries are proceeding,
2. The escape appears to have been carefully planned and executed. At 6.50 p.m. on 15th November a fuse holder in a latrine reserved for European officers was broken and this resulted in the immediate failure of the perimeter lights on the north and east sides of the caup. The officer in charge at once turned out the external guard and within five minutes of the failing of the lights two broken ladders were discovered on the inside of the eastern fance, It was later found that a total of fifteen internees had made good their escape, by jumping from the top of the ladders to the ground outside the fence, before the ladders themselves collapsed. internee was found in the camp with injuries which he admitted had been received from falling into the barbed
One
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
MALCOLM MACDONALD, M..,
&c.
&c.,
&c.
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