CO129-594-6 Brigadier D M MacDougall- letters to Gent on civil affairs administration 15-9-1945 - 24-12-1945 — Page 33

Civil Affairs H.Q.

COPY

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26

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50177/45

Copies sent to

Hong Kong.

15/9.

Pus S.of S.'

My dear Gent,

E. Dept.

Col. C.

Mrlaine

to see

Afterwards

Miss Campbell 5204 for flo His

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After 24 hours non-stop from Madras a Catalina decanted our weary bleary and unshaven party on the shores of Hong Kong. The Admiral met me on the jetty and took me to Gov. House, hideously rebuilt by the Japanese: entering it was somehow mr moyle like meeting a hitherto respectable old lady turned

4/10 painted and wanton, with too much rouge and too

obviously a lifted face.

Also

The Colony is seedy and run-down. Apart 445. Robus from that it looks fairly normal on the surface.

But nothing really stirs. I don't know what I Col. Cole

expected but I was not prepared for the hush that hangs over it. All F.E. cities teem, but not H.K. At the moment it carries on, partly from the dying momentum of the Japs. I think: the game is to keep it from stopping altogether. The first thing was the currency: you will have seen the signals. I took a risk and pushed out the yen before we were quite ready (the whole place had been running quite happily on a yen basis for three weeks after the collapse!). The notes have not arrived in any quantity as yet and we have started the change-over with a very slender stock. The next two weeks will show whether this was a mistake. Butters was a tower of strength - much the most vigorous minded man to come out of Stanley.

The next thing was Quislings. At the Admiral's direction, I informed Kotewall that he was to withdraw from public life immediately and await investigation. (He had been frequenting Govt. offices unabashed since the Japs. left.) He seemed quite

impeni tent