11. The food situation has been desperate ever since occupation. From December 1941 to June 1942, ration was 11b. of Rice per house. This meant widespread starvation as houses are crowded, sometimes with 50 inhabitants. The ration was increased tõ 6.4 ozs per head when Lieut. General Rensuke Isogai was appointed Civil Governor in June 1942, but the price was fixed at 20 yen = 2 Hong Kong dollars, which was increased later to 30 yen. All other food, including milk, is on the Black Market and is prohibitively scarce and expensive,
12. As result of the food situation, health was terribly bad. There were many deaths from starvation and corpses were left in the street, even when they died indoors. For some reason (details later) people were frightened to hand over their relatives' corpses to the Japanese authorities. This led to widespread malaria, typhoid and cholera. Though there was compulsory, gratis innoculation against typhoid and cholera, anti-malaria injections cost $15. Before occupation, Hong Kong was well-supplied with quinine, but afterwards, civilians could only get inferior stuff costing 50 cents instead of 10 cents.
13. The Queen Mary Hospital, perhaps the finest European hospital in Pariast, was reserved for Japanese soldiers and civilians could go only to the two Chinese hospitals in Kowloon which were badly under-equipped. Velasco says he had 5 go'a of malaria between December 1941 and September 1943.
140 The currency problem is complicated and I will get exact particulars later. The point is that the Japanese are collecting Hong Kong currency and force civilians to exchange it for their yǝn at cruel rates.
15. Velasco says that the Japanese are trying to get rid of as many people as possible. Many are being sent to occupied China or even allowed to go to Free Onina if they can get there. (stimated numbers and names, if any, to follow).
(Signed)
E.L.N. Sturt.
20/3/4.
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