Copy of Minute Enclosure to Desp. No. 55 to F.0.
H. M. Minister,
34
Gustavo Velasco has now made some amendments and additions to his statement on conditions in Hong Kong, as recorded in my minute of 20th March.
Fagraph 2(a).
Their
After the first few months of the Occupation, it was impossible for passers-by to see the prisoners of war in the camps. Velasco did, however, see them at work outside the camps just before he left. physical condition appeared to him to be fair and they were kept hard at work by their guards. Until August 1943, they travelled between the camps and their work in lorries. In that month, however, the former Standard Oil Company's tanks were successfully bombed by the United States Air Force. Motor traffic was practically suspended and the prisoners went to their work on foot.
1.
2(e). The full list is as follows:-
Known to be alive and well in August, 1943:
2nd Lieut. Burt
Sgt. J. Jackson
J
My
Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps, Street Camp. Wife in Stanley Camp.
Argyle
Royal Scots, Shamshuipo Camp. Wife at liberty.
2.
No news of late:
Lieut. Dudley
Capt. A.N. Braudé Capt. W. C. Clarke Sgt. J.M. Dalziel
Sgt. R. Kirtwood Sgt. C. Blaker
3.
Shamshuipo
Hong Kong Naval Volunteer Defence Corps. Formerly of Sino-British Engineering Company. Camp.
Wife in Australia received no help from outside camp.
Fortress Signal Corps
17
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11
77
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1:
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Believed to have been transferred to Formosa at end of 1942:
Major J.P. Sherry - Fortress Signal Corps.
Former Manager of Hong
Daughter in Stanley about Major Sherry's
Kong Telephone Company. Camp. The information transfer came from Fr. Riganti, an Italian priest who visits the camps.
40
Died in 1942:
Capt. Holmes
- Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps. Capt. Holmes'
death was published in the Japanese press.
Paragraph 8.
The second sentence should be deleted and the following substituted:-
"Although the majority are confident of the impending return of British Government, the Chinese are willing to take employment from the Japanese owing to their dire economic condition. There were 1200 applicants for 20 secretarial vacancies advertised by the Japanese.
Paragraph 9.
War crimes witnessed by Velasco at first hand, were the theft of valuables from his family's house by Japanese soldiers who entered it when Kowloon was occupied, and the beating up of inhabitants of Hong Kong who, contrary to a Japanese regulation, went outside the city at night to collect firewood. He also saw looters shot.
Paragraph 11.
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