206
DONALD C. BOWIE
The Hospital Funds were the main customers, and provided much needed extras for general and for individual consumption. Cigarettes were in great demand and came in various brands. Occasionally what we called Chinese cigarette tobacco was available and when burned this emitted a foul smell making its users extremely unpopular with their neighbours. I had stopped smoking myself many years before the war, so I suffered no deprivation but many men, particularly Canadian soldiers curiously enough, felt the lack of tobacco greatly. Earlier in this account I said that some patients in the early months of my charge were exchanging food issued to them for treatment purposes for cigarettes. We took a strong line on this and the practice soon ended. Another time a soldier received a large number of cigarettes in a parcel from home, though how this got through I do not know. He started to sell some at a level of profit which would have excited envy in most black markets. The business attained the proportions of a scandal in our small community and I confiscated the greater part of his remaining stock and distributed these free to all except officers in the hospital. This met with approval by our population rather than disapproval of the high-handed action, which in fact it was. When funds allowed we bought cigarettes as a general issue for all except officers in the hospital, non-smokers getting a cash allowance instead. In the shop at a later date we set prices to yield small profits though such commonly sought articles as cheap cigarettes were often sold at cost and gradually we built up a fund of some hundreds of yen.
I had the greatest difficulty in getting permission from the Japanese to use this money; they kept a close watch on the store to make sure that unauthorised goods or messages did not come in. Eventually in August 1944 they agreed to refer to their headquarters my request to use our profit. Headquarters then wanted us to buy musical instruments and other goods of this kind. I feel sure that the reason was that these articles could be displayed in our recreation room and provide readily visible evidence to inspecting officers as to Japanese solicitude for patients in the hospital. In the end, though specific permission was never actually given, we began to use this profit to add to our diet. Like many other of our practices this started in a small way and grew to sizeable proportions.
The range of goods in the shop was astonishingly large early on. In February 1943 when my records of prices start, 58 items were on sale and ranged from corned beef at ¥2.40 per tin to cotton
206
DONALD C. BOWIE
The Hospital Funds were the main customers, and provided much needed extras for general and for individual consumption. Cigaret- tes were in great demand and came in various brands. Occasionally what we called Chinese cigarette tobacco was available and when burned this emitted a foul smell making its users extremely unpo- pular with their neighbours. I had stopped smoking myself many years before the war, so I suffered no deprivation but many men, particularly Canadian soldiers curiously enough, felt the lack of tobacco greatly. Earlier in this account I said that some patients in the early months of my charge were exchanging food issued to them for treatment purposes for cigarettes. We took a strong line on this and the practice soon ended. Another time a soldier re- ceived a large number of cigarettes in a parcel from home, though how this got through I do not know. He started to sell some at a level of profit which would have excited envy in most black markets. The business attained the proportions of a scandal in our small community and I confiscated the greater part of his remaining stock and distributed these free to all except officers in the hospital. This met with approval by our population rather than disapproval of the high handed action, which in fact it was. When funds allowed we bought cigarettes as a general issue for all except officers in the hospital, non-smokers getting a cash allowance instead. In the shop at a later date we set prices to yield small profits though such commonly sought articles as cheap cigarettes were often sold at cost and gradually we built up a fund of some hundreds of yen. I had the greatest difficulty in getting permission from the Japanese to use this money; they kept a close watch on the store to make sure that unauthorised goods or messages did not come in. Even- tually in August 1944 they agreed to refer to their headquarters my request to use our profit. Headquarters then wanted us to buy musical instruments and other goods of this kind. I feel sure that the reason was that these articles could be displayed in our recrea- tion room and provide readily visible evidence to inspecting officers as to Japanese solicitude for patients in the hospital. In the end, though specific permission was never actually given, we began to use this profit to add to our diet. Like many other of our practices this started in a small way and grew to sizeable proportions.
The range of goods in the shop was astonishingly large early on. In February 1943 when my records of prices start, 58 items were on sale and ranged from corned beef at m.y. 2.40 per tin to cotton
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