203
Nobody seemed to care.
In very short time we established ourselves. Patrols picked up stray Japanese and we asserted control over the Colony. Food, we soon discovered, was a black market commodity and could not be bought with money due to the fact that the Japanese had flooded the economy with forged bank notes. We had the answer to that one. The ships had brought in a supply of new currency.
The population was invited to take all its money to various points of exchange within a certain number of days. It was a common sight to see rickshaws with suitcases crammed with worthless money and, later, owners emerging from banks with somewhat slim wallets of new notes in exchange.
I found the chief bartering medium for Hong Kong citizens was packets of cigarettes. Imagine what these packs looked like having passed from hand to hand in some cases for up to almost four years. A tablet of Lux soap would buy almost anything. I 'bought' a pair of leather, hand-stitched, snake-proof boots for one such tablet. I was amused to think we hadn't any snakes aboard ship.
Food was the next problem. We had an abundance brought in by freighter but how to distribute it equitably was a headache. How this was finally resolved I didn't stay in Hong Kong long enough to find out.
The organisation that was put into force was fantastic. We had all our time cut out to stabilise the economy, to get the people back to work, and to restore law and order. One of the things we needed to do was find guns and munitions the Japanese had abandoned. We discovered a number of suicide boats. These were roughly made of plywood, packed with high explosive, but sea-worthy enough for one-way trips. Two of these were taken back to the United Kingdom to present to Belfast Naval Museum. We also had to re-establish the rather small police force and set up courts; medical supplies and clinics were, of course, needed.
We employed some young girls aboard ship to scrub and clean and to do other general tasks. They were paid a dollar or so for which they were grateful. The women I had in my charge were very cheerful and took a delight in watching soap bubbles. I gave each one a small piece of soap and, on completion of their duties, I allowed them to keep the...
203
Nobody seemed to care.
In very short time we established ourselves. Patrols picked up stray Japanese and we asserted control over the Colony. Food, we soon discovered, was a black market commodity and could not be bought with money due to the fact that the Japanese bad flooded the economy with forged bank notes. We had the answer to that one. The ships had brought in a supply of new currency.
The population was invited to take all its money to various points of exchange within a certain number of days. It was a common sight to see rickshaws with suitcases crammed with worthless money and, later, owners emerging from banks with somewhat slim wallets of new notes in exchange.
I found the chief bartering medium for Hong Kong citizens was packets of cigarettes. Imagine what these packs looked like having passed from hand to hand in some cases for up to almost four years. A tablet of Lux soap would buy almost anything. I 'bought' a pair of leather, hand- stitched, snake-proof boots for one such tablet. I was amused to think we hadn't any snakes aboard ship.
Food was the next problem. We had an abundance brought in by freighter but how to distribute it equitably was a headache. How this was finally resolved I didn't stay in Hong Kong long enough to find out.
The organisation that was put into force was fantastic. We had all our time cut out to stabliise the economy, to get the people back to work, and to restore law and order. One of the things we needed to do was find guns and munitions the Japanese had abandoned. We discovered a number of suicide boats. These were roughly made of plywood, packed with high explosive, but sea-worthy enough for one-way trips. Two of these were taken back to the United Kingdon to present to Belfast Naval Museum. We also had to re-establish the rather small police force and set up courts medical supplies and clinics were, of course, needed.
We employed some young girls aboard ship to scrub and clean and to do other general tasks. They were paid a dollar or so for which they were grateful. The women I had in my charge were very cheerful and took a delight in watching soap bubbles. I gave each one a small piece of soap and, on completion of their duties, I allowed them to keep the
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