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Colonial Office Reference No. 5383835/40
with the compliments of the Under Secretary of State
Colonial Office.
Date 13th June
1940
OPYReference. c.o. letter
53838/35/40
of
For Information.
CONFIDENTIAL.
e /◓
1793 177 10
15/
the 14th May 1900
210
C
GOVERNMENT HOUSE,
HONG KONG.
27th May, 1940.
My Lord,
F
With reference to previous correspondence
resting with Sir Geoffry Northcote's confidential (2) despatch of 19th April, 1940, regarding Chinese soldiers interned in Hong Kong, I have the honour to inform Your Lordship with regret that one interned soldier named Cheng Hop died on 13th March, 1940, from injuries received in a brawl with another interned soldier, Ng Kwai Wing.
2. At 11.15 a.m. on the morning of 13th March Cheng Hop was playing mah-jong with Ng Kwai Wing and two other internees in one of the huts of the Argyle Street internment camp. A quarrel arose and Cheng struck Ng who defended himself for a short time and then ran out of the hut. Soon after this Cheng collapsed and was taken to the Kowloon Hospital in an ambulance, but on arrival he was found to be dead. A post-mortem examination established that the cause of death was rupture of the spleen, which was enlarged to about seven times the normal size.
3.
Ng Kwai Wing was arrested the same day and charged with murder, but after enquiries had been made the charge was reduced to manslaughter. The
preliminary hearings were taken by the Second Magistrate, Kowloon, who decided that there was no case on which to commit Ng for trial. A copy of the depositions is forwarded herewith for Your Lordship's information.
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
LORD LLOYD OF DOLOBRAN,
etc.,
etc., etc.
I have, etc.,
(Sgd.) N.L. Smith.
Officer Administering the Government.
1576.
1.S.+
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