Classical concert ((for details see 3rd))
Issue of 4 pkts. cigs.
Diary pages from this date
I should be digging in the rubbish pit this morning, but as it is pouring with rain I have elected to make an entry in my diary.
I sought advice at the C.S.O. with regard to our silver and they advised us to write saying that the third nationals had been asked to report if they were looking after estate, commercial stocks or stores etc. of enemy nationals, not so much small personal property. He (Ginger Angus) said that 3 or 4 people had already written to Devaux about similar property of theirs. We are still dubious, but in the end I wrote a card saying: Do you know if any of our property survived the looting of our flat? If so will you please send it to us for the impending repatriation. We understand the Japanese Civil Authorities will make arrangements for transporting it here, etc. Put in this way it will enable Devaux to deny all knowledge of our property if necessary. Now we must wait and see if anything turns up. We are allowed to send to HK one 50 word post card per month. (Married couples count as one person). The wording has to be written in block letters and the nationality of the sender and addressee has to be stated. Apart from Yvonne Ho and Devaux there is no one else really for us to write to.
Yvonne Ho sent us a lovely parcel at Easter; four enormous eggs and ¼ lb of cheese. The cheese was of the cooking cheddar variety with a very good and strong taste; where it has come from we cannot think.
One or two people have been getting personal property in. Anne Muir had a big suitcase sent in yesterday containing her fur coat and table linen amongst other things. We helped her carry it to her block. A Mrs Hall, who was in charge of ‘The Caravan’, a shop in the Peninsula Hotel where they dealt in Chinese silk lingerie etc., has had a large amount of her stock sent into camp. She had packed it up and left it at the Peninsula and lately she asked for it to be sent in. She is now selling it at the pre-war prices in exchange for sterling cheques at the pre-war rate of $16 = One pound Sterling. This is very fair of her, as no doubt she could have stuck on the price and people would still have bought, though maybe she would not have sold out. She is expecting another consignment soon. I have my Westminster Bank cheque book with me and I think it would be a good idea if Y bought some of these things for herself and her mother, as it will be years before this quality stuff can again be bought at these prices, and as Y has lost all her clothing she will have to buy and make more; so this seems to be an opportunity not to be missed. Also, we can purchase it without parting with any of our precious local money. Mrs Hall will take the Sterling cheques out with her when she is repatriated and will then pay them into her own account. As she is accepting cheques, the purchasers, whom she does not know, have to be recommended, this Maudie can do for us, as she has already bought a lot of stuff herself.
We met Mr Gimson the other evening at Maudie’s wedding anniversary (25th May) and I asked him about my Government pay for Yvonne. He said that half my salary would be made available for her and she has to get in touch with Mr Maugham, the HK Government official who accompanied the first batch of evacuees to Australia. So that eases my mind. She will now be able to get in touch with my bank in England and see how matters are standing.
This repatriation rather knocks on the head the scheme for a boys’ hostel, so it does not look as though Y and I will get our room to ourselves after all. To think that this room has been our most permanent home so far – shared with sundry other people! We lived for 9 months at 18 Peak Road and so far have spent over 16 months here.
((The Hong Kong Club's committee met just once during the internment, on this day. Vaudine England describes the meeting on page 88 of her book, "Kindred Spirits: A History Of The Hong Kong Club":))
This unique meeting, held on 5 June 1943, was chaired by Newbigging, with vice chairman Robert Young and three other men in attendance: H.J. Armstrong, D.H. Blake and John Fleming, the Club accountant, who, in the absence of Trenchard Davis, acted as secretary. Several topics were recorded from the meeting. The first was ‘casualties in hostilities', which referred to the many Club members lost in action, including J.E. Potter, their colleague on the Committee. This was followed by the issue that may have triggered the meeting: the apparently impending repatriation of Mrs Thornhill. It was resolved to give her a letter of reference...
recording her loyal and efficient service to the Club. It was further decided, as no other means of assisting her financially were possible, to give her a letter addressed to the Hong Kong & Shanghai Bank London requesting the Bank to pay her One Hundred Pounds (£100) as a gratuity and to cover her undrawn December 1941 salary. Repayment to the Bank of such sum to be jointly and severally guaranteed by the undemoted Committee and other Members of the Club, who would if agreeable, sign such letter in confirmation thereof.
Attached to the Minutes is the carbon copy of this letter to the Bank, dated 15 June 1943. On it appears a long list of names of those who had signed the original — incidentally giving us an important sample of the Club’s pre-war membership still alive in the camp halfway through the war:
D.L. Newbigging, H.J. Armstrong, R.D. Gillespie, G.A. Pentreath, Robert Young, N. Croucher, Edgar Davidson, M.M. Watson, D. Morgan Richards, A.L. Shields, F.C. Hall, W.F. Suminondo, D.D. Forbes, P. Tester, E.A. Pritchard, A.N.H. Phillips, John Fleming, H. Sheldon, H.R. Sturt, M.A. Annett, A.D. MacGregor, J. Owen Hughes, Eldon Potter, Chas Terry, B.C. Hawkins, R.A.C. North, J. Finnie (the manager of Butterfield & Swire), L.C.F. Bellamy, S.T. Williamson, W.J. Ryan, R.C. Margarett, W.N. Brown, E.W. Hamilton, P.S. Cassidy, D. Clark, R.H. Wild, Denis Blake, C.C. Roberts.
Also attached was a letter of thanks from Mrs Florence E. Thornhill, dated 22 June:
I thank you [Newbigging] and the members of the Hong Kong Club for the gratuity you have so kindly arranged for me to draw on arrival in England. It will be most useful. I would also express my appreciation for the consideration shown me during my employment with your Club, and take many happy memories with me. I regret very much the circumstances which end my association with you and hope things will be back to normal soon. Yours faithfully ...
'The circumstances’ was a modest description of a devastating world war and the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong; a modest hope, too, that things would soon be ‘back to normal’.
((The meeting was held at a time when it looked as though British women, including Mrs Thornhill, would be repatriated. That didn't happen, though most of the Canadians in Camp, including one of the signatories R D Gillespie, were repatriated in September 1943.))
A filthy day, driving rain the whole time but we are lucky in a middle room on the middle flat - we are dry. It's a nuisance however going out to the kitchen or the lav. I mentioned breaking things up above - I've been terrified always of breaking two things - my glasses and my false teeth. I did break the latter (or rather Bill Faid did) but I was very lucky and got them mended. Since then I've broken one tooth off but there is no plaster of paris now so they will just have to remain broken. If I lost my eye glasses I'd be done!
I'm feeling a lot better these days - I've never got the figures of my last blood count but it was good - over 4,000,000. I've had a horrid cold the last few days but it's going now.
CheerOHoney All my love always B
Your letter of 9/8/42 No.8 has just arrived. I've never had 1, 2 or 3 only Nos 4 and 5 and now 6 and 7 are missing too. Still it's lovely to get a letter from you. Of course I miss earlier bits - all you say is "Ralph went off again yesterday" - so he's been in Edinburgh too - moths to the flame! I can't think why you are so anxious to see "Pam" if she is Miss Harrop for I hadn't seen her for months before or during the blitz and only once after it was all over.
I am so glad Joy has been able to start her medical career- I'm pleased my name helped. It would have been a shame if she had been kept back. I hope Ian enjoyed his Camp last September - no more camping for me I hope. This will last the rest of my life - I want comfort from now on!!
I am sorry to hear you had aerial visitors. I hope they keep away. You’ve taken the house for another 6 months – I hope you manage to keep it - I’d like to see you all in it.
Cheerio again Darling. B.