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CARE OF EVACUEES WHOSE SAILING WAS DEFERRED:
These women,
The first ship sailed for Australia on July 28, and the last
on August 9. There were about 46 women and children left behind
either because of illness or because of pregnancies.
when released from the hospitals, were placed at the convalescent
home set up by the Red Cross. There, with good food and nursing care, they rapidly recovered and the babies and children thrived
in the warm sunshine and the huge garden. The last two ships to take these remaining evacuees to Australia were the S.S. "Taiping",
scheduled to sail from Manila on September 23, with fourteen, and
the S.S. "Nanking", scheduled to sail from Manila on October 6,
with another eighteen. Two mothers in Baguio, with new babies,
refused to leave and are therefore out of the evacuation scheme.
GENERAL STATEMENT:
ATTITUDE TOWARD MASS SHELTER
This coopera-
On the whole the greater percentage of our Hong Kong visitors
were very cooperative and realized the great task of preparing to
take care of so many people on a few hours notice.
tion was more than appreciated by the corps of British and American
women working on the Housing Committee, who were doing their utmost
to make the lot of these women as light as possible by providing
adequately for their comfort as far as circumstances would permit.
The white population of Manila is a little over six thousand, and
when one realizes that 3,426 extra people suddenly came to our
shores it is easily understandable that there were some problems
and inconveniences in meeting the task. Mass shelter was a decided
change from the usual surroundings and routine, and it was difficult
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