Franklin Gimson ended yesterday in cautious mood, determined to do nothing to provoke the Japanese Government into abdicationg responsibility. But this morning he's swung in the opposite direction and decided to try to implement the instructions in the message he rceived yesterday from Y. C. Liang to the full. In his meeting with the Japanese he tells them they must arrange his office in town as a matter of urgency, that he will be taking over government of Hong Kong and that the Japanese army should withdraw to designated areas - they will still control these areas, but the rest of Hong Kong will be under British administration.
This is a highly risky scheme, and by the end of the day Gimson has changed his mind at least enough to allow R. A. C. North to send out a much more cautious message at a meeting of the people who are in discussion with their Japanese counterparts about taking over the running of Hong Kong's infrastructure.
If the Japanese responded to the plan for a troop withdrawal, no record remains, and from tomorrow until the arrival of Harcourt's fleet Gimson will operate his previous plan of taking symbolic control but only carrying out such actions as will not encroach on Japanese authority.
Nineteen people from Stanley, including two children, visit Bowen Road Hospital. They are forced to stay the night because of stormy weather in the harbour.
Sources:
Gimson and North: MInutes of meetings with the Japanese and with the British departmental heads, August 24th (Hong Kong Public Records Office)
Hospital: Donald C. Bowie, Captive Surgeon In Hong Kong, 1975, 259