CO129-578-11 Sino-Japanese War- refugees 17-1-1939 - 5-12-1939 — Page 53

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No. 443.

SEEN BY DEPT 717 1417

53

53835/2/39

GOVERNMENT HOUSE,

HONG KONG.

22nd June, 1939.

Sir,

I have the honour to append a statement which

purports to represent the effect on the population of

Hong Kong of the war between China and Japan.

2.

The figure for 1937 is largely guess work but

is, I believe, of the right order. Those for 1938 and

1939 are taken from railway and shipping companies' records

and are reasonably near though, if anything, under the

mark: presumably there has also been a relatively small

infiltration of refugees by junk and road. The refugees

who fled into this territory from southern Kwangtung in

November and February last, when Japanese forces were

active near the Anglo-Chinese border, are not included:

though a certain number of these latter succeeded in

evading the police pickets, the great majority of this

class of refugees was held up in the New Territories.

Most of them have returned to their homes; those remaining

amount to some 5000 persons.

3.

Since last October most of the immigrants shewn

in the annexure have come here by steamer via Macao.

It

will be observed that the flow tended to diminish during

January and February 1939 and I was then in hopes that it

next

would cease: its rapid expansion during the/three months,

however, has destroyed that prospect and I am now

вород

THE RIGHT HONCURABLE

MALCOLM MACDONALD, M.P.,

&c.

&c.,

&c.,