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11.
In the allocation of huts it was a case of first come, first served. At sundown the heat of the afternoớp soon gave place to the cold of a bleak windy Hong Kong January evening, and men everywhere frantically ripped damaged buildings to pieces in order to get material to bloak up empty windows and doors, or to supply fuel for warming fires. Jubilee Buildings were better preserved and a few quarters had both windows and doors; some of these rooms had been occupied for days by prisoners, over a dozen of whom we found lying on the floor ill with dysentery: There was no electric light of course, private torches, candles and fires being the only source of light available, No implements were available to dig latrines and no conveniences were at hand to enable us to empty the remaining buckets which were soon filled to overflowing.
12.
Brigadier Peffers divided the camp into 6 Administrative Districts and as Senior Medical Officer it fell to my lot to grapple with the health and sanitation problem, and as most of the Japanese who visisted the cap were medical officers, I had untold opportunities through these contimual contacts, to form an opinion of the Japenese intentions. M.Os were appointed to each district, buildings were earmarked for British and Indian hospitals and M.I. rooms and isolation hospitals, and sick parades arranged, but all this was almost valueless on account of the small amount of medical equipment and supplies available. At a meeting of Heads of Services, Brigadier Peffers explained that apparently the Japanese were not going to help us in the slightest, so plans were drawn up for each service to do what it could in its own line. In most cases this was practically nothing, but gradually all the running water pipes were blocked up and the sanitary squads made the place look something like a military camp. It was at this meeting that the Brigadier announced that it was the duty of every individual to escape if possible, and from then on I began collecting information and making plans that eventually made the escape possible.
13.
On the 31st of December, the Japanese M.0. (Major Joh) who was in charge of our area came into the camp and we explained the whole situation to him and asked for help. Throughout all our dealings with this individual (one cannot call him a man) he was over-bearing, arrogant, insultingly rude, non-co-operative and procrastingating to an almost unbelievable extreme utter disgrace to any army and to any profession. To all our requests he either turned a deaf ear or grunted "tomorrow" Later in the afternoon he came back
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and asked for a list of our requirements, both medical and general; when these were prepared and given to him he handed them all back and said he wanted them printed in block capitals; this was done and then he handed back the medical list demanding that it should be written in German. I doubt whether anything was ever done with this list because on the 8th of January I saw the officer to whom it was given take it from his pocket when he was hunting for a sorap of paper to make some notes.
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14.
1st January. On this day we were supplied with rice but no Japanese officer visited the camp in spite of Major Hoh's promise to bring medical supplies and to remove our dysentery cases to a hospital. The amount of rice supplied was not sufficient and it was necessary to supplement it with what could be bought through the fence from the Chinese outside. Most of the supplies thus bought whether plates, kettles, candles, tinned food, biscuits, buckets etc., had all been looted, much of it from military stores.
15.
2nd January. The arrogant Major visited the camp on this day, accompanied by a medical Major General from Canton who was on a tour of inspection. We showed them the patients in the hospital lying on the concrete floor of a bleak, open room; we explained that we had been given no medicines or equipment at all to which the General observed through the interpreter, "Why don't you ask for them.” We explained that we had but there the conversation ended.
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