OF
HOUSE O
HO
COMMONS
From:
-
Lt. Col. D. A. Price White, M.P.
National Provincial Bank Chambers,
Bangor,
North Wales.
13th January 1950.
34
7
P/C ad.
wat 14/
JKI.
David Rees Williams Esq., Under-Secretary of State, Colonial Office,
Whitehall, London, S.W.1.
Dea
and,
M.P.,
In connection with my professional practice as Solicitor I have come across a situation which I think demands official consideration on the part of your Office and I am, therefore, presuming to bring the facts to your notice, to save time, asking you to be good enough to let me have any comments you may be prepared to make in the matter.
You will recollect that following the occupation of the Colony of Hong Kong by the Japanese, a Prison Camp was set up at Port Stanley and that practically all the British Civilians residing in Hong Kong at the time of its occupation were interned in that Camp.
Apparently conditions at the Camp very soon became quite appalling and large numbers of the internees were placed in desperate straits to obtain sufficiency of food, from sources outside the Camp, to supplement the meagre Prison ration issued by the Japanese, if they were to have any hope of survival.
The situation, as described to me by my professional client who was at the time a doctor employed in the Colony's Medical service at Hong Kong but whose health so suffered as a result of the treatment that he had to resign his appointment in that Service, was that a traffic grew up whereby persons from outside the Camp, with the connivance of the Japanese Guards, brought additional food stuffs into the Camp which were sold at exorbitant rates in Japanese yen.
Through this traffic a certain person, I regret to say a British National, within the Camp made known to fellow internees that they were prepared to exchange
/over