OVERCROWDING IN HONGKONG
DANGERS OF UNRESTRICTED IMMIGRATION
FROM A CORRESPONDENT LATELY IN
HONGKONG
The debacle of the Chinese nationalist armies in Manchuria and north of the Yangtze river, and the threat of a Com- munist occupation of Nanking and even of Shanghai, make it imperative that serious consideration be given to the status of the British colony of Hongkong.
In normal times (e.g., in 1937) the population of the colony never exceeded some 800,000. After the occupation of Canton and other South China ports by the Japanese in 1938 there was a tidal wave of refugee immigrants into Hongkong, and it was estimated that when the colony was captured by the Japanese on Christmas Day, 1941, the Chinese population numbered 1,750,000. During the Japanese occupation drastic-often barbarous methods were employed to reduce the population, and when British forces reoccupied the colony at the end of August, 1945, the population did not greatly exceed 600,000.
The
Because of the enormous material damage done-mostly by Chinese looters, who stripped residences of all woodwork, fixtures, plumb- ing. &c. there was, and remains, an acute housing shortage in the colony. Nevertheless Chinese immigration revived on an enormous scale, and at the end of 1947 the Government estimated the population at nearly 2m. immigrants included thousands of wealthy Chinese, who bought up land and houses at fantastic prices to serve as bolt-holes in the event of a Communist victory in north China, as well as tens of thousands of skilled and unskilled labourers and a large number of political agitators.
As a result the island and the Leased Terri- tory on the mainland are seriously over- crowded, the water supply has become inade- quate, and progress in social welfare has been brought almost to a standstill. Until, some years hence, newer and larger reservoirs are! constructed on the mainland Hongkong is likely to suffer from a serious water famine during each dry (winter) season.
Hongkong has to depend entirely upon external sources for its food supplies (chiefly rice). It has recently released 10,000 tons of rice to assist in meeting the food shortage in Shanghai. That will have to be replaced during the next few months from Burma or Siam, and considerable difficulty is likely to be experienced in doing so.
If it becomes necessary to evacuate British and American nationals from Shanghai, Tient- sin, Hankow, and other centres in China, Hongkong will no doubt provide at least temporary refuge for a large proportion of these evacuees. They would, however, not amount to more than a few thousand persons at most. But if there is unrestricted Chinese immigration the population of the colony might well double itself within a few months- with all the hazards to local peace and health that would ensue.
Part 36
Times
22 NOV 1948
MR side botham. I Washing Me W. Vid. Wallace.
register jl.
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