FO371-24688 — Page 303

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COPY.

No. 39/6181/40.

sir,

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Government House,

Hong Kong.

3rd. September, 1940.

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438

I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of 21st August, 1940, and to inform you that I entirely concur that the recent publication in the Hong Kong press of letters from evacuees complaining of their treatment in Manila and containing derogatory statements against Filipinos was deplorable from every point of view. I am taking an early opportunity to impress on the editors of the English press here the unfortunate effects of such letters as set out by you in your letter under reply and will urge them to leave no stone unturned to remove all evidences of bad feeling and to make clear in their papers the debt which the Colony owes not merely to the Philippine authorities, but above all to the voluntary efforts of the Philippine Red Cross

whose workers and the men of the United States Army, charity and kindness can never be measured in terms of money and for which no repayment could ever be assessed.

2. I fear it would not have been possible to arrange for the censorship of such letters before publication: there is no direct Government censorship at all of the contents of the English press in the Colony which jealously guards its freedom, though of course their cables are subject to censorship, much less of the good manners and good taste of the letters from their readers which they care to publish. It should perhaps be mentioned in their favour however that they also published letters containing warm tributes of thanks from evacuees for the extreme kindness they have been accorded by everyone in Manila.

3. I have noted with appreciation your remarks on the services of Mr. A. J. C. Taylor.

I am, Sir,

Your most obedient

Servant,

(sgd.) E. F. NORTON.

Officer Administering the Government.

His Britannic Majesty's Consul-General,

MANILA.

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