CO537-4802 — Page 55

INWARD TELEGRAM

TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES

Cypher (0.T.P.)

Dry, on 55413/49

My Minis Rup

1

DUPLICATE

FROM COMMISSIONER GENERAL SOUTH EAST ASIA

D. 20th January, 1949.

R. 20th

10.

09.45 hrs.

End

5

No. 23 Secret.

Personal from Hone for Higham.

サ

China.

Reference your telegram No. .3.

Evacuation of British nationals and others from

Singapore Government has not found it possible to retain the camp mentioned in our telegram No. 351 and no expenditure has been incurred on this account,

2.

You should know that when the Governor of Hong Kong was here last October he approached the Singapore Government to ask them if they could accommodate a limited number of refugees from China if Hong Kong became too crowded. The idea was that if further staging facilities wer required in Singapore the Singapore Government undertook to give what assistance they could. Federation Government also undertook to accommodate a few refugees in Penang and Malacca. We never envisaged that we could do more than look after from 800 to 1,000 at a time as a purely emergency measure if the situation in Hong Kong became desperate. Further discuselons on the subject will take place with the Governor of Hong Kong when he visits here at the end of this week.

36

4.

We are

Apart from these local arrangements betweer Singapore and Hong Kong, we are still apprehensive that if the altuation in China were to deteriorate suddenly we may be faced with a large influx of refugees without much warning.

The matter was discussed at the Defence sub Committee on 18th January. Our feeling is that we ought to do some planning but we have no data for this purpose. particularly exercised to know what shipping would be available to move possibly very large numbers of refugees onward from Hong Kong within a short period and what arrangements for their disposal have been made to obviate their coming to Malaya. We note your assurance and that of the Foreign Office that we shall not be bothered in this way but I feel bound to tell you that we are still uns asy, sinpo we are fully aware of the very limited resources and other difficulties at Hong Kong. Our apprehensions are perhaps due to the fact that we have no knowledge here as to what plan

had been made by America, the I.R.O. and other Authorities for dealing with the refugees problem in China. If you could let me have for my personal information the outline of these plans we should feel much better.

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