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By that time means of identification had disappeared. were, however, drawn up with all possible marks and particulars and were handed over to the Delegate of the International Red Cross in Hong Kong for transmission at a favourable opportunity through Geneva to the War Office.
X.
Issue of identification certificates.
A propos of retaining some of the medical, health and drainage staff in Hong Kong, mention might be made of the identification certificates which I issued to those who found it impossible to remain any longer, owing to the rapid rise in the cost of living during Japanese occupation, to the exhaustion of all their realisable assets and to their inability to maintain their families and themselves.
Chinese leaving Hong Kong a month or more after the surrender were liable to arrest and imprisonment and even to execution by Chungking Forces when they crossed the frontier into Free China on the grounds that they were Japanese agents. In order to protect those who had remained at their posts at my request, and to enable them to receive assistance from the British consular and military authorities in China, I gave each one a certificate of service signed over the photograph of the doctor, nurse, dispenser or other officer concerned.
The certificates referred to above formed one of the forty or more charges preferred against me by the Gendarmerie who regarded them as codes conveyed to British agents in China and giving details of troop movements, shipping, and so
There was, of course, no truth in this allegation of
on.
espionage.
Amongst other charges were that I had communicated with the "enemy", the British Consul at Macau, as an example. As it happened, this last charge was justified, for I had informed the British Consul (Mr. John Reeves) of the serious situation in Hong Kong after the surrender, had explained the plight in which interned civilians and prisoners of war and the non-interned wives, widows and dependants of such persons found themselves, urging him to do his best to get Geneva to organise International Red Cross work in Hong Kong, and, meanwhile to send funds and medical supplies to meet pressing needs.
The Consul did contact the home authorities, through the British Ambassador in Lisbon, but he was forbidden to send any funds to occupied territory. Funds were received from the British Red Cross by the International Red Cross in Hong Kong in October, 1942, but the Japanese withheld permission to the Delegate to spend any of the money on wives and dependants of internees and prisoners of war until January, 1943, up to which date I had to be responsible for such relief.
Y.
Expenditure.
In connection with the volume of work carried out by the Hong Kong Informal Welfare Committee up to the date of my arrest, it may be of interest to note that donations from anonymous individuals and funds borrowed through the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, etc. amounted to over a million dollars.
The accounts were audited by Mr. S. Perry, Chief Accountant, Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. Particulars are given in Appendix 1.
Z.
Arrest on charges of espionage, etc.
As early as July, 1942, I received a warning from a
Japanese/