CO129-590-14 Newsletters from Sir Geoffrey Northcote- Governor of Hong Kong 21-4-1941 - 24-11-1941 — Page 29

China.

- 9 -

instruction in this activity is just as

necessary as ever so far as the Pacific is

concerned.

I am very much afraid that Chiang

Kai-shek will have to 'cave in'.

If so,

we here can look forward very soon to a

hostile Canton, always an unpleasant

neighbour.

Hong Kong.

There is a good deal of pro-Wang

Ching-wei feeling here. It is due, I

think, partly to war-weariness; partly

to the belief that Chiang Kai-shek is

losing and the wish to save what they can

from the wreck; partly to fear that the

Japanese may bomb this place, but might

refrain if the Wang Ching-wei party could

get the upper-hand here. But the whole

political atmosphere is more nebulous than

usual and any comment on it is necessarily

based largely on guessing.

Evacuation.

Though there is a lot of soreness on

various points in this connection the issue

is moribund. I was approached soon after

arrival by the Husbands Association with a

request that I would allow return at

owner's risk', so to say and I gave a flat

I have not had

though sympathetic refusal.

any 'comeback' on that.