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I had told the Senior Japanese Medical officer, through Major Boxer who spoke fluent Japanese, who my husband was, and that on no account would we consent to go to Stanley, and that if the Jar Ese authorities insisted on moving him that he would probably have aart attack or a haemorrhage in the ambulance, and that his death would be their responsibility. He promptly had a sign written in Japanese put up on our door to say "do not Disturb", which was very considerate of him. About lunch time, we had made our own lunch out of tins which we on hand, we were told that we would be moved to St. Stephen's Hospital. Mrs. Reeves, the wife of the British Consul at Macao had appeared at the hospital three days previously, she had come to Hongkong on a shopping expedition and got caught there and had finally come to the Queen Mary for shelter. She was in a bit of a panic, not knowing whether to go with the rest of the British to Stanley, or what to đo. I suggest that she stay with us and see what happened, which worked out quite satisfactorily as the Japanese agreed that she should go with us to St. Stephen's. Later, thanks to the good offices of Mr. Takio Oda, who was appointed the Chief of the Bureau of Foreign Affairs, she was returned to Macao, on the 10th of March..
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The
The move to St. Stephen's was effected quietly after the hospital had been evacuated. It was curious atmosphere, the great building entirely deserted, empty, rooms left in disorder, things lying about anywhere. hospital servants came, in about two in the afternoon and took anything they could find in the way of small things to loot. They flitted about like shadows, and the sunshine streamed in all the windows that were not closed and blacked out. My husband and I had sat on our verandah on the sixth floor and watched the last of the lorries full of Sisters stream out. We were, the last to be moved and were alone in the building for two hours, and thought for a while that we had been forgotten The Medical Officer in charge came for us at last however. He was most scrupulously polite at all times although the others were a rather truculent lot.
The move to St. Stevens Hospital was definitely a one in the right direction, as far as our comfort went. Although it was only an emergency hospital, converted from a Mission Girl's School, there was an atmosphere of kindliness and efficiency which made up for the lack of equipment. The place was packed, there was no water except what was carried in; no light except candles, and those were expensive, no food except the Japanese hospital ration of rice and beans. I slept, seven in a room with a lot of refugees. A French girl had the bed next to mine, there were two other British, Mrs. Reeves being one of them, one Portuguese girl, 'two Jamaican Eurasians, and for a while a Russian woman.« We all managed comfortably enough, and there was always the most perfect harmony in that room, strange to say, as friction due to overcrowding in Stanley rose to unimaginable heights.
My husband was put in a ward with four other men. The fact that he was a Consul General made not the slightest impression on any one, and was hardly mentioned. They had very little to give us practically nothing, but what they did have they give us gladly, with such kindliness that we settled down at once. Being out off from sources of supply from Powkfulham was a serious matter, I had been going there regularly every day from the Queen Mary Hospital, and had been able to bring along milk for two days and two big bags of vegetables which we gave into the central fund of food as we had no way of handling it. t
The Housekeeper kept enough for us so that my husband had fresh vegetables for some time, and I went over to Pokfulham for milk twice, but had to give it up, the journey was too far. I had brought a supply of eggs sufficient to last & week or more, luckily. That was something ̧ for him to eat as the beans wère forbidden on his diet, which left nothing but rice, and the vegetables T had brought.. One has to have gone through it all to realise the food situation, we just did not have any food except rice and two kinds of beans, and tea, and a minimum of sugar, and occasionally a tiny bit of jam. Bread came irregularly, and finally was made largely of rice flour, which produced a stodgy grey bread, most filling, and certain to result in indigestion.
I explored the neighbourhood around the hospital and soon discovered a market where I could buy duck eggs, this about two weeks after we settled down at St Stephens. We could get green vegetables and fish of sorts there also. And the kitchen department at St. Stephens, a small, very impudent and very competent cook of local extraction, responded readily to the suggestion of a cumshaw and was willing to prepare any food we gave him. He was a most satisfactory ally the whole time we were there, ready to do anything for us.
As St. Stephens was very much nearer town it was much easier to go in to buy things and also for my regular ten day visit to the consul
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