Sir,
COPY.
Hong Kong, September 25th, 1941.
16
We acknowledge receipt of your separate letters addressed
to us dated the 22nd September, 1941, enclosing a copy of a
letter which you have addressed to the Honourable the Colonial
Secretary, setting out the terms of a resolution unanimously passed by a General Meeting of persons whose wives and children
have been evacuated from the Colony under the Evacuation Scheme,
and asking us to move a similar resolution in the Legislative
Council.
2.
From your letter to the Honourable the Colonial Secretary,
we gather that the object which your Committee has in view in
seeking a public enquiry is to ascertain the facts (a) to (g) enumerated in your letter to the Honourable the Colonial Sec-
retary. Moreover, we note that, on the strength of the
resolution of the General Meeting, your Committee has already
officially asked Government for such an enquiry.
3.
It seems to us that no action on the part of the Unofficials is necessary or proper until you have received Government's reply to your request. Pending that reply, however, we offer the
following observations :·
(1) The facts under (a) have been repeatedly stated by His
Excellency Sir Geoffry Northcote, viz., that the re- sponsibility for the institution of the scheme lies with the British War Cabinet.
(2) The facts under (c), (e) and
(f), if not already in the possession of your Committee, can no doubt be very readily ascertained.
(3) This leaves only (b), (d) and (g), viz :-
#1
(b) Which person or persons were responsible for its
administration.
(d) Whether the Scheme was administered fairly and
impartially. "
(g) Whether those responsible for granting exemption were in any way guilty of discrimination lack of impartiality or unfairness.
(4) We are aware of the bitterness and dissatisfaction on the
part of those affected by the Evacuation, and the way in which it was carried out, and we have every sympathy for them. But we confess we cannot see how an enquiry at the present time into the questions enumerated in (b), ̊(d) and