SECRET
My dear Gent,
GOVERNMENT HOUSE,
HONG KONG.
July 10th, 1939.
to Mr. Paterson
вору
Ansd.
(5)
I have been giving a good deal of
thought to what should be done with gaol
populations should an attack on this island
by Japan become an imminent probability.
Stanley Prison contains some 3,000
men of whom less than 500 are serving sentences
of one year or more: of these something under
200 are regarded as being such dangerous
criminals that they must in all circumstances
be kept in confinement.
Were Great Britain to go to war with
Japan it is probable that this island would be
subjected to bombardment from air and sea on
a very high scale, in which circumstance it
would, I think, be most inhumane to keep in
confinement any person who might be released
G. E. J. Gent, Esq., 0.B.E., D.S.O., M.C.
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