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Confidential Report on S. I. Byron during period 12th 27th December
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1941.
During this period I round the work of this officer very unsatisfac- tory. My first personal contact with him was on or about 18th December, when a Chinese woman reported to me that as her husband had been missing for three days, she suspected that he had been murdered.
She had pre- viously reported this to S. I. Byron at west Point he took no statement and ordered her to report direct to me Intook mandate 11od^statementy and sent hef beetartowano stvari og hitione. I took a detailed statement and s sent her back to West Point under escort ordering 3. I. Byron to make full enquiries (report was groundless as it turned out). Remembering that S. I. Byron was in charge of the C. I. D. W. I consider his action ex- tremely slack. I informed Mr. Calthrop and you of this later when I went to the Gloucester on or about the 1st January 1942.
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5. I. Byron was absolutely unreliable and could not be sent out to do any work efficiently outside the station - the food queues in Connaught Road West needed continual supervision and careful handling if detailed for this duty he would report back to station after 20 minutes or so. for work during the war I would place more reliance on an untrained but conscientious police recruit.
After the surrender on the 25th I decided to take up residence at West Point, so as to be enabled to contact first the Japanese and intro- duce them to the district - on arrival at the station at 15.00 hrs I noticed that. I. Byron and S. I. Orem both stank of whisky, and that the were setting up a very bad example for the other men, considering it essential to have all men in station alert and as respectable as possible. I ordered Inspector Nolloth to collect all the "drink" available in the station and to destroy it this was done, no protests being made by the men. About two hours later Inspector Nolloth happened to visit the lavatory, where he found S. I. Byron sitting on the closet drinking whisky from the bottle. He destroyed the whisky and reported the inci- dent to me. I strongly suspect that he had other stores of whisky hidden away because on the 26th he had obviously had some to drink.
On any future occasion, I will never trust, place any reliance or responsibility on this officer. I consider him useless as a practical police officer.
Signed L. A. S ARLE,
A. S. P/K. 12.8.42.
In fact
P.S. Reference to my statement referring to S. I. Orem, what I have said regarding S. 1. Byron, with the exception to the statement re report of murder, can be wholly applied to him.
hen the Japanese did arrive at 10.00 hrs on the 26th he was definitely under the influence of drink and behaved in an aggravating manner. After the Japanese had set up their headquarters at the station, it occurred that S. I. Orem visited my room when I was interviewing Captainru Kar Dar who was in charge of the landing party. A sentry had been posted outside the door to my room, and 3. I. Vrem walked in with his hands above his head ! It would be no exaggeration to state that on the 26th next to the Japanese, S. I. Orem was my chief concern. He continually annoyed me by talking when I was in the middle of delidate conversations with Japanese officials. i would further state that during the war I found him on several occasions under the influence of drink.
Signed.
L. A..SEARLE, A. S. P. K.
12/8/42.
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