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though this was speedily remedied, was resented by many, though all, I think, realised that it was the only accommod- ation that was or could be made available. Food for some of the dormitories was prepared on the spot, while at others it was furnished by caterers. Some of the women sent to their husbands in Hong Kong wildly hysterical and exagerated complaints of the accommodation and food furnished. Following an attack by Sir Henry Pollack and the other unofficial mem- bers of the Legislative Council on the Hong Kong Government and its evacuation policy, extracts from these letters were published in the Hong Kong newspapers. It is greatly to be regretted that such publication should have been permitted, as many of the statements reflect on the Filipino people and on the very generous hospitality afforded by a neighbouring and foreign country to Hong Kong's women and children. The extracts were naturally copied in the local press, and resulted in a palpable change in the attitude of Americans and Filipinos towards the refugees and towards British generally. One Filipino lady, wife of a high Filipino official, remarked to a British lady when she attended a joint committee meeting "Do you mind sitting at the same table with natives!" Many of the evacuees have done their best to correct this bad impression by letters to the local newspapers, while several British residents including myself have written to the High Commissioner and the Red Cross dissociating ourselves from the complaints and expressing our sincere gratitude to the American and Filipino governments and peoples.

8.

Many of the women, especially the wives of navy and army officers, did not wish to proceed to Australia, and the General Officer Commanding telegraphed me that any who wished to leave the scheme and remain in the Philippines or proceed elsewhere than Australia were at full liberty to do so, provided they accepted full financial responsibility for so doing. I telegraphed back to Hong Kong requesting that all husbands be warned of the high cost of living in the Philippines and pointing out that hotel and other rates were now at their lowest but would be doubled during the dry season. Moreover, I made a flying visit to Baguio to warn the women themselves most officers' wives were accommodated in Baguio that local charges would be increased during the winter, that there might be difficulty in their obtaining funds from England or other sterling countries, and that there was a possibility that Singapore would not permit their entry into Malaya. My warning was unheeded it even drew a rebuke from the General Officer Commanding that I should not interfere with the free movements of army officers' wives and several booked passages to Singapore. A few hours before an American ship, on which many ex-evacuees were travelling, sailed from Manila, both I and the steamship company received telegraphic advice that no women or chilaren who had been evacuated from Hong Kong would be permitted to land in Malaya and that this prohibition included wives and families of Service men tranferred or appointed to Malaya. were accordingly disembarked.

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The passengers

./9.

A party

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