Reg. or
fo! 54145/13
Extract from despatch from British Consulate-General or 5'4228. CANTON dated 24th December, 1945 to His Majesty's
Charge d'Affaires, British Embassy, CHUNGKING.
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IX. Abolition of Permit System for entering Hongkong.
32. When in October I passed through Hongkong en route to Canton, both His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief and Brigadier MacDougall discussed this permit system with me and as a result of these discussions I gathered,
33.
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)
that the system, which owing to lack of staff could never be fully enforced at the Hongkong end, was largely a form of bluff by which it had been found possible somewhat to restrict the increase in Hongkong's population, an increase which dangerously threatened the adequacy of the Colony's very limited food reserves;
that it was estimated that this form of bluff had, in fact, probably reduced what the figure of emigrants would otherwise have been by some 100,000;
that its legal basis rested on a pre-war Hongkong ordinance which had been introduced as a means of restricting Wang' Ching-wei supporters entering the Colony;
that but for the difficulty of the food situation the Hongkong Government were most anxious to abolish the permit system, as it was fully realized that Hongkong could not return to normal, so long as a large number of its former merchants were excluded.
Upon arrival in Canton I found that the Consulate had to issue about 400 of these permits daily and that the system was strongly resented by the Chinese public. It was also resented by leading Chinese officials because the Provincial and Municipal Advisory Councils were using the system as a means of attack, or at least as a basis for violent censor.
34. As in Chungking, I had had to deal for two years with the Government of India, which rarely answered an application on behalf of a Chinese for visa in less than six weeks, I was amazed that this permit system should cause resentment, when permits were not only never refused but were always given within a few hours. However, my first interview with Marshal Chang Fa-kui and with Governor Lo Cho-ying convinced me that they both really did feel a genuine resentment. This resentment, it soon became clear, was largely based on ignorance of the reason for the system, it being assumed that it arose out of a combination of officiousness and standoffishness.
35. I was, owing to the explanations I had received when passing through Hongkong, able to some extent ally this feeling of hostility which had been apparent when the subject had first been broached. However, the system continued to be extremely unpopular with both official and public alike.
36. With the introduction of a daily express train on 14th November, when it would become necessary to issue
1,200 permits
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