254
DONALD C. BOWIE
I have no idea now what this meant. The first working party was transferred to another job and though none of the less fit had gone back to camp none of these were being worked.
It was at this time also that we ran out of rice, having deliberately issued for consumption on the scales approved by the Japanese. As a punishment Mr. Campbell and I were both slapped. We would not have run the risk of an empty rice store in earlier years but by then we were becoming more confident of our position. We did in fact go short for a day but fresh supplies came in within 24 hours. This was a very good intake, about 360 kilos, and I was able to work out a good ration on the basis of 510 grammes for 100 employed and 397 grammes for others, assuming that our stocks had to last until the end of July. We had another very good Red Cross intake on 29 June and at this time we were having 113 grammes rice for breakfast, 145 grammes for dinner and tea as well as 113 grammes for working party suppers. I learned also that much of the working party's work on air raid shelters had been undone by heavy rain. I also have a note that our steward's store was well wired up by us though I do not now remember who the predators were suspected to be.
On 7 July a Canadian officer died, admitted from Sham Shui Po on the 29 June. There was in this case a strong suspicion that the cause of death was encephalitis of the Japanese B. type. The next day a Hong Kong Volunteer died suddenly from a severe haemorrhage. On the same day the Japanese guard moved out of the Japanese half of the school building and we understood that Saito was going to live there. By 19 July Saito himself took check parades and we were still hoping to receive certain things that we had asked for such as a cross-cut saw and some drugs. On 11 July a Canadian soldier had broken his leg while working on a tunnel to be used by the Japanese as an air raid shelter. Splints were applied in a Japanese hospital and he was sent to us for admission. The working party reported to me that the tunnels they were digging were of amateurish design and were highly dangerous. I gathered that the sides and roofs were very inadequately shored up and there had been a number of falls of earth from roofs and sides. I tackled Saito at once about this, and he later told me that we could be reassured since the Japanese officer in charge said that they only needed more timbers to be used and all would be well. As a statement of the obvious this seemed to me to be pretty good.
254
DONALD C. BOWIE
I have no idea now what this meant. The first working party was transferred to another job and though none of the less fit had gone back to camp none of these were being worked.
It was at this time also that we ran out of rice, having delibera- tely issued for consumption on the scales approved by the Japanese. As a punishment Mr. Campbell and I were both slapped. We would not have run the risk of an empty rice store in earlier years but by then we were becoming more confident of our position. We did in fact go short for a day but fresh supplies came in within 24 hours. This was a very good intake, about 360 kilos, and I was able to work out a good ration on the basis of 510 grammes for 100 em ployed and 397 grammes for others, assuming that our stocks had to last until the end of July. We had another very good Red Cross intake on 29 June and at this time we were having 113 grammes rice for breakfast, 145 grammes for dinner and tea as well as 113 grainmes for working party suppers. I learned also that much of the working party's work on air raid shelters had been undone by heavy rain. I also have a note that our steward's store was well wired up by us though I do not now remember who the predators were suspected to be.
On 7 July a Canadian officer died, admitted from Sham Shui Po on the 29 June. There was in this case a strong suspicion that the cause of death was encephalitis of the Japanese B. type. The next day a Hong Kong Volunteer died suddenly from a severe haemorrhage. On the same day the Japanese guard moved out of the Japanese half of the school building and we understood that Saito was going to live there. By 19 July Saito himself took check parades and we were still hoping to receive certain things that we had asked for such as a cross-cut saw and some drugs. On 11 July a Canadian soldier had broken his leg while working on a tunnel to be used by the Japanese as an air raid shelter. Splints were applied in a Japanese hospital and he was sent to us for admission. The working party reported to me that the tunnels they were dig- ging were of amateurish design and were highly dangerous. I gathered that the sides and roofs were very inadequately shored up and there had been a number of falls of earth from roofs and sides. I tackled Saito at once about this, and he later told me that we could be reassured since the Japanese officer in charge said that they only needed more timbers to be used and all would be well. As a statement of the obvious this seemed to me to be pretty good.
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