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Kingdom. Hong Kong had the advantage of a stable currency and a start over its competitors. To consolidate this advantage supplies were necessary. With no shipments from the United Kingdom and only negligible supplies from Australia, Canada and the United States were the only countries which were in a position to meet immediate demands. Subsequently the position improved considerably as far as supplies from Australia were concerned, and it was hoped that the United Kingdom would shortly be in a position to market goods in Hong Kong on an appreciable scale.
115. The majority of safe deposit boxes in the banks were broken open by the Japanese and their contents were rifled. In some cases documents were left in the opened boxes and it was necessary, before handing the safe deposit vaults back to the banks, to go through the boxes individually with a view to making an inventory of the contents. This was especially necessary in the case of boxes in the vaults of banks which had continued to operate during the occupation. Such boxes were not interfered with by the Japanese, and it therefore appeared likely that the contents might in some cases reveal evidence of collaborationist activities. Examination of the boxes of all persons represented in the Colony was completed by the end of February, and in 67 cases it was necessary to postpone their release pending further examination of documents relating to transactions which took place during the occupation.
116. The so-called duress notes were declared legal tender on the 2nd April. These were notes belonging to the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank which had not been issued at the time of the Japanese occupation and which were issued irregularly by the Japanese Authorities. These notes were not at first treated as legal tender by the Military Administration, pending the investiga- tion of the circumstances in which they were issued. Before the end of 1945, however, the numbers of the notes were being skilfully altered, and changes were also being made in the date of issue and the signatures. The effect of this was to discourage the use of high value notes of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank, and it became necessary in consequence to increase the circula- tion of small denomination notes. Although the number of altered notes in circulation was not large it was sufficient to cause a great
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deal of inconvenience to the public, and the recognition of the notes gave rise to general satisfaction. It was hoped that this measure, which involved both the Government and the Bank in considerable expense, would have a considerable long-term prestige value, particularly as warnings had been circulated by wireless, as soon as the issue of the notes became known, urging the public not to accept them.
Prisons.
117. On the arrival of the Civil Affairs police officers, the Police and Colony was found to be policed chiefly by Naval personnel. Ex-internees had kept the administration of the Police Force going, but for medical reasons they were allowed to work only for short periods each day. Similarly, such rank and file as had been collected, or as had served during the occupation, were allowed only six hours duty daily. A temporary Police Training School was immediately opened, and for the first three months this was used as a convalescent home to accelerate the return of members of the rank and file to full duty. Efforts were then concentrated on the repatriation of all British and Russian internees and all members of the Indian contingent,
118. It had been expected that re-inforcements of British officers would arrive in Hong Kong without delay, but by the end of November the actual number of British officers present in the Colony was 11, against a War Establishment of 20, and of British inspectors 32, against a War Establishment of 115. The beginning of December found the personnel position in a very dangerous state. All British officers, and all but twelve British inspectors, had been repatriated. As an immediate pallia- tive, a certain number of British inspectors from Shanghai were engaged on a temporary basis during December, 1945, and January, 1946. As soon as the Police School could be cleared of convalescents, the recruiting of Chinese inspectors and constables was started. The newly-recruited inspectors from the United Kingdom began to arrive in February.
119. The discipline of the whole Force was extremely unsatisfactory in the early days of the re-occupation and showed signs of improvement only in March, 1946. For the first four months it was possible to concentrate only on the essentials of police work. Extraordinary offences included widespread looting
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