CO129-590-11 Commission of Enquiry into irregularities in Immigration Departments 22-4-1941 - 19-12-1941 — Page 308

CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案 All

Q.

A.

Q.

-3-

309

The officer in charge of the ship. Have you any reason to doubt

that statement

-

those are my instructions?

I don't doubt they are your instructions.

Were they carried out in that way as far as you know?

A. People with passports were examined first and I don't think people

with entry permits were examined at all. There was such a grest rush

Q.

of them. There was only a Chinese Immigration Officer standing on the gangway.

You say those with permits or certificates of residence were not examined?

They were just merely looked at.

What do you men by examination except merely looking?

It was not exmination in the way those with passports were examined.

A.

Q.

A.

. .

Not so carefully ? You have seen passports?

A.

Q.

A.

Q.

ཚེ་

A.

Q.

Yes, of course I have.

You will admit they are more complicated than the Immigration documents which I issue?

Yes

And therefore require a good deal more time to examine?

Yes.

And that explains why these immigration documents were not examined ad carefully as the passports were. At the time when you wished to step ashore and were prevented from doing so, do you know whether all the passengers who carried entry permits and certificates of residence

had already been examined?

A.

They were not examined yet.

A.

Do you realize it would cause some confusion if some of the passengers went ashore before we were quite satisfied that all passengers were correctly recorded on the passenger list?

I don't think the names of the passengers with entry permits were recorded on the passenger list, but you must have had the number of passengers coming in.

Q. You are suggesting that the Shipping Company had disobeyed the

Immigration Ordinance?

A.

I am not suggesting that I enly say that the persons with entry

permits might have been examined at the same time as those with

passports.

Comments

Approved members can add comments, bookmarks, and private notes.

No comments yet.

Private Research Note

Private notes are available after approval.