The surrender ceremony was delayed from day to day; but on the 16th everything was ready and Admiral Harcourt officially booted the Japanese out of the Colony. As soon as the various signatures were penned the warships fired a twenty-one gun salute. So Hong Kong returned to normal.
There was nothing new about the administration. The ideas were those of 1939; they had been eclipsed for a time, but, when the shadow passed on, they resumed their place in men’s minds. The picture was not one of imperialist opportunism. It seemed that the Navy had returned to the harbour, driven by sentiment, and that a fairy godmother had usurped an ugly sister in a very Chinese house.
At 2100 hours on the 16th there was a searchlight and firework display by the fleet. The blue beams of the searchlights passed each other in slow weaving. The waters were sparkling with the green and red of the rockets that were bursting softly in the still air. Fiesta! Fiesta! From the town the Chinese replied with their own little bangs. It was a happy night for everyone.
This is the end of the article "Sweet Waters".