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REPORT
SIR,-
CHIEF JUSTICE'S CHAMBERS,
SUPREME COURT,
OTTAWA, 4th June, 1942.
I am transmitting herewith my Report made pursuant to Order in Council, P.C. 1160, relating to the Hong Kong expedition. The Report is in two parts. There is a Report proper, which gives my principal conclusions and some ancillary matters, and the Appendix, which deals fully with the facts and discusses the evidence and the conclusions.
I have the honour to be,
The Right Honourable
W. L. MACKENZIE KING, P.C., L.L.D.,
Prime Minister of Canada, Ottawa.
Most sincerely yours,
(Sgd.)
L. P. DUFF.
P.C. 4782
Certified to be a true copy of a Minute of a Meeting of the Committee of the Privy Council, approved by His Excellency the Governor General on the 5th June, 1942.
The Committee of the Privy Council submit for Your Excellency's informa- tion the accompanying report of the Right Honourable Sir Lyman Poore Duff, G.C.M.G., made pursuant to the provisions of Order in Council P.C. 1160 of February 12, 1942, appointing him a Commissioner under Part 1 of the Inquiries Act to enquire into the circumstances surrounding the dispatch of a Canadian Expeditionary Force to the Crown Colony of Hong Kong.
A. D. P. HEENEY,
Clerk of the Privy Council.
BY THE
ROYAL COMMISSIONER
PURSUANT TO
ORDER IN COUNCIL, P.C. 1160
YOUR EXCELLENCY:-
The Order of Your Excellency, P.C. 1160, authorizing this Inquiry is attached to this Report. By it, I am directed to inquire into the organization, authorization and despatch of the Canadian Expeditionary Force to Hong Kong in October, 1941. I am instructed particularly to examine the selection and composition of that force, the training of its personnel, the provision and maintenance of its supplies, equipment and ammunition and the provision of transportation therefor. The Order in Council states that the purpose of the investigation is to determine whether there occurred any dereliction of duty or error in judgment by those whose duty it was to arrange for the authoriza- tion, organization and despatch of the force that resulted in detriment or injury to the expedition or its members. My duty is to determine whether there occurred any dereliction of duty or error in judgment "on the part of any of the personnel or of any of the departments of the Government whose duty it was to arrange for the authorization, organization and despatch of the Expedi- tionary Force" and whether, if such dereliction or error occurred, there resulted detriment or injury to the expedition or the troops comprising it. If it is found that such dereliction of duty or error in judgment occurred, it is my duty to fix the responsibility therefor.
In this, my Report proper, I am stating my principal conclusions touching these matters, together with some salient facts. A full statement of the facts and a full discussion of the evidence appear in the Appendix hereto which is to be considered as part of my Report.
First, of the authorization of the expedition. The principal considerations prompting the invitation by the Government of the United Kingdom to the Government of Canada to send reinforcements to Hong Kong (two battalions of infantry with first reinforcements, and by subsequent communication a modified headquarters staff) are set forth in the telegram containing that invitation, dated September 19, 1941. These considerations were largely those which influenced the Canadian Government in accepting the invitation. I have been unable to obtain the consent of the Government of the United King- dom to the textual reproduction of this telegram.
The Chief of the General Staff having expressed to the Government his opinion that there was no military objection to the acceptance of the proposal and that the reinforcements ought to be despatched, the view of the War Com- mittee, as disclosed in the evidence of three Ministers of the Crown, the Min-
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