CO129-590-22 Situation in enemy occupied Hong Kong 19-1-1943 - 20-11-1943 — Page 173

R204

Times

1709

1 0 APR 1943

HONG-KONG FOOD

SHORTAGE

NEUTRALS' RATIONS

CUT

REDUCING POPULATION

FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

IN AUSTRALIA, APRIL 9 A report from Chungking that the. Japanese in Hong-kong are bringing pressure to bear on neutrals to induce them to leave the island by cutting down. their rations, makes it interesting to review recent statements on Hong-kong broad- cast by Tokyo and various Japanese- controlled wireless stations.

The Governor-General of Hong-kong is Lieutenant-General Rensuka Isogai, former Japanese military attaché in China and chief¡ of staff of the Kwantung army, a man long notorious in Japan's dealings with China. Curiously enough, Hong-kong does not appear to be under formal military administration like all the other Japanese-occupied terri-i tories, although Isogai himself is an army man.

Isogai has emphasized the importance of ships and shipping, and his desire to make Hong-kong the foremost trading and shipping centre of Greater East Asia. But Hong-kong's prosperity, which depended upon a flourishing entrepôt trade, has been hard hit by the war and by the shortage of merchant shipping, which has brought most of the trade in the Far East to a standstill. Although the Japanese claim to have solved the food situation, there still appear to be great difficulties, as may be judged from the following items.

SCARCITY OF SUGAR

Last August difficulties were experienced in supplying large-grained rice to consumers in Kowloon. A month later the sugar ration was sold out in a week, in spite of an extra 8,000lb. being issued. In August an economic agree- ment was signed with Canton by which Canton was to supply meat, fruit, and vegetables in exchange for sea foods and manufactured articles. Later a similar agreement was signed with the Philippine Islands. A five-year plan was announced, to make the new territories; self-sufficient in vegetables.

Connected with the food problems are re-}] peated announcements that measures are being taken to reduce Hong-kong's population which, at the end of last year, was estimated to be over 983,000. Isogai himself has said that Hong-kong's chief problem is the re- duction of the population to a reasonable figure. Last October Chungking reported that the Japanese were compulsorily evacuating |400,000, and, later, that the Japanese planned to evacuate 40,000 each month, beginning in March this year.

All radio sets have had to be presented for examination and listening in to foreign stations is punishable with death. The playing of mahjong in public places and clubs has been banned. It is allowed in homes, but then not for money (since the Japanese decreed that gambling was illegal) and not after 11 p.m.

It is interesting to note that, in spite of Japanese talk about the abolition of extra- territoriality and the return of concessons to the Nanking Government, there is never any mention of Hong-kong. Hong-kong for the Chinese does not appear to loom large in Japanese plans. Isogai often talks about plans he has for the future, but there is little evi- dence that any of these have yet materialized. Inhabitants of Hong-kong, like those of all other southern regions occupied by the Japan- ese, appear to be suffering considerable hard- ships because of the complete dislocation of economic life in these regions, due to the Japanese invasion.