CO537-(1262-1649) — Page 278

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Ref.:

CO 537/1374

THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES

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Please note that this copy is supplied subiect to the National Archives' terms and conditions and that unur use of it may he exhiart te ennurinki

HEET No.

00063

63

29th October,

46.

JS.

cms

CO 537/1374

Ins

Ref.: restrictions. Further information is given in the anclosed Terms and Conditions of supply of National Archives' leaflet. Please note that this copy is supplied subject to the National Archives' terms and conditions and that your use of it may be subject to copyright

My dear Fellows,

As it has been often suggested that debtors of the Bank during the Japanese occupation of the Colony were compelled to pay their overdrafts and loans it can now be confidently stated that after the lapse of a year in the course of which debtors have been interviewed or given an opportunity to explain by correspondence, not a single casa has been discovered where there was any coercion.

The enclosed copies of the correspondence with Mr. R.A.Dastur of Hongkong is so typical of the ordinary course followed, of the standard form of application for payment by the Liquidators, of a purely voluntary payment at a later date, and finally of a plea of duress when asked by the Bank to pay, that it is felt that you should see it for yourself.

At the outbreak of the war Mr.Dastur owed the Bank H.K.$1,076,107.43. The whole of this amount was paid off in Military Yen by instalments between November 30, 1943 and May 11, 1944. The Liquidator, wrote to him on August 6th 1943 a stereotyped letter in which he was requested" to make arrangements to repay the loan account with interest. On August 11 ar. Dastur replied pleading that he was penniless and unable to pay. On October 6 the Liquidator replied to an application by Mr. Dastur in the matter of his overdraft statin: the amount due in respect of principal and interest. On March 22, 1944 Mr.Dastur who dated his letter "Shows 19th year" respectfully informed the Liquidator that according to his desire he had been able to pay the greater part of his debt by selling his shares and humbly requested sympathetic and favourable consideration in the matter of a waiver of the interest.

The Liquidator's letter of May 15, 1944 shows that by that date Mr.Dastur had repaid his overdraft ia full and that all his shares held by the Bank had een released. The letter itself refers only to shares in one Company, but

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