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29
T.
Insanitary conditions of town.
With the small staff detailed above, every effort was made to retain such inspectorate and coolie staff as were needed for the cleansing of the town and the burial of dead.
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No pay for sanitary coolies.
It took some very determined efforts to persuade the cleansing coolies to continue with their absolutely essential duties after the surrender in 1941, for (except for a small group of anti-epidemic staff) none received any wages until the end of April, 1942. At that time the staff received quite inadequate wages from the 8th February (no pay from the surrender to that date), and even then deductions were made from wages for rice received at the rate of twenty cents per catty per day.
My only means of retaining some of the coolie labour after the surrender was to promise them rice and firewood which I delivered to the coolie quarters with volunteer European labour to carry it from the Japanese-controlled godowns.
It will be remembered that many third nationals, friendly to the British cause, were living in the town (together with Volunteer families, etc.). As they were in a position to assist so-called "enemy" nationals interned in the camps, it was important that efforts should be made to prevent them from falling victims to dangerous infectious disease.
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Depletion of hospital staffs.
To ensure at least a modicum of hospital and medical services to meet the needs of the population, I endeavoured to persuade a portion of the hospital staff of the department to remain on duty in Hong Kong, rather than to take the easier and more attractive step of evacuating to Free China.
To this end, and in the absence of transport, I used to walk round the remaining hospitals every Sunday, on both sides of the harbour, to urge the skeleton staff of doctors, nurses and
dispensers to remain at their posts for the sake of the community, of the internees and of the non-interned wives and dependants of Volunteers, etc. The presence of the staff also prevented irretrievable damage from looters which invariably occurred when a hospital or other building was closed.
Service under the conditions of Japanese occupation was extremely distasteful and often nerve-wracking;
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consequently, I
feel that great credit is due to those members of the department who stayed in Hong Kong at my request.
That the above policy · - which had the approval of the Hon. F.C. Gimson proved to be in the general interests of the population was evident at the time of the Japanese collapse in 1945.
C
After clearing and cleansing, it was found possible in August and September, 1945, to reopen hospitals, dispensaries, welfare centres, etc. so that the public could enjoy medical facilities from which they had been deprived for over three and a half years; whereas, educational establishments like King's College, Queen's College, Sai Ying Pun Vernacular School and the University of Hong Kong were thoroughly looted and partially destroyed.
W.
Disposal of dead.
The collection and burial of the dead formed another essential duty of officers of the department who remained out of internment for the first sixteen months of the Japanese occupation. As late as March, 1942, bodies of our soldiers killed in action (or after the surrender in some cases) were still being found and buried.
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