APPENDIX IV.
CONDITIONS CUTSIDE THE CAMP.
This information is naturally very scrappy and is based completely on hearsay, being a report of what is regarded as the more trustworthy information culled from Chinese travellers met en route who had left Hong Kong after the surrender.
Exchange.
All people questioned corroborated the statement that the Hong Kong dollar was being devalued so that two Hong Kong dollars one Military Yen. I understand that the same thing had been done with the Chinese dollar in Canton but note that the Canton Military Yen was not available in Hong Kong so that each Japanese Garrison Commander could work his own racket" without interfering with his brother racketeer.
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Hong Kong money, however, could be changed only up
to a maximum of ten Hong Kong dollars at a time, at certain specified places, so that a successful queuing up would produce only five Military Yen. Larger notes, e.g., 100 dollar notes could be exchanged presumably in the inevitable Black markets at about 40% discount.
Food.
My latest information from a well known and reliable Chinese friend of many years' standing, who left Hong Kong on 24th January, 1942, confirms the general report that rice was scarce and issued only in meagre amounts. There were 10-20 official Japanese depots set up in Hong Kong - no reliable information received concerning Kowloon - at which individuals had to queue up for individual rice issues of catty per head per day. This was retailed at the standard price of approximately 40 Hong Kong cents per catty, but there was never sufficient rice for the queues, though undoubtedly there was again another Black market which sold the rice illegally at a much higher price.
into:-
The routine of obtaining rice thus resolved itself
(a) repeated queuing up until Military Yen had been obtained
(b) repeated queuing up until the individual catty was
obtained so that normally a definite per capitum daily supply of catty was never obtained.
Labour employed by the Japanese was paid with catty
of rice per day.
Transport.
Ferries between Hong Kong and the mainland had been restarted about 18th January, 1942, though I gather that queuing up was necessary for these. Formerly, permits had been issued for one-way traffic only from Hong Kong to Kowloon, so as to keep the refugee traffic moving from the Colony, but possibly permits for any crossing were no longer necessary.
Buses.
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Apparently some Buses had been operating in Kowloon towards the middle of January but their use was limited to permit holders who either worked for the Japanese or had some influence with them.
Trams
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