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more need be said about these because they get relief through religious organizations to which they belon or from Funds sent out by the Holy See to the Bishop. Like all others they have to live on minimum rations but can get along. By April we saw that the other Irish out of concentration Camps had either already become destitute or were rapidly approaching it. We therefore approached the Nipponese authorities who contacted Tokyo with the result that at the end of July £1,000 arrived from the Irish Red Cross to be administered by me. I have administered it through the Irish Committee of which I am Chairman, each case being passed on by the Committee before Relief was granted. At the moment we are paying a basic minimum of forty Military Yen (a little over £3) per month per person but they cannot possibly live on this and we shall soon have to pay at least double that figure in most cases owing to rising C.0.L. At the moment about 30 persons are on Relief but I fear that soon the remaining thirty laymen and women will also have to be put on the list..
:) IRISH IN CIVILI N CONCENTRATION CAMTS
"A week or two after the Fall of Hongkong all civilian enemy aliens were interned. Most of them are still in concentration camps -
very few exceptional cases being released. Their condition in the first three months was deplorable but is somewhat better now though the health of many has suffered. In this category the best information available is that there are 139 Irish by birth. Why did they not seek Neutrality passes? Some because, being Government officials here, they thought it would affect their future prospects for salaries or jobs or pensions to claim Irish neutrality (Actually they were wrong in this). Others did not claim because they had no reserves of money and could not have possibley supported themselves once their means of employment ceased with the fall of Hongkong (all Europeans practically lost their jobs whether in Government or otherwise) Others, finally, feared to remain out because of the threatened penalties for not giving ourselves up and because the Nipponese authorities here were then not yet agreed to recognize Irish as neutrals. The rest of us took a chance and finally Tokyo recognized us as Neutrals. At a later stage it seemed likely that the Nipponese would allow all civilian prisoners free if they could support themselves- It was just then that Mr. Egle of the International Red Cross arrived here and had a cable from Switzerland bidding him see me and get news of Irish nationals. Between us we concocted a cable informing the Irish Government that our neutrality was recognized but that many civilians were destitute and beggin for Frs. Swiss 5,000 per month likely to increase later. Our idea was that we could get these people out of the Camps and support them most of them would be in a position to repay the loan later to the Irish Government. The houses of internees were all looted so that we should have had to provide these people with everything. Whether the cable
/ever
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