John Charter's wartime journal: View pages | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

John Charter's wartime journal: View pages

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09 Jun 1943, John Charter's wartime journal

Since we have been in this camp Y and I have often discussed our future plans – assuming we are both still intact when the war ends. I can either stay on here in the Government or try for private practice here or return to England and endeavour to get a partnership there. The advantage in the first scheme is that it is good and safe and should economic depression follow the war, it would be a good job to have. However, I had never intended to remain long in Government employ as I consider one easily gets in a rut and loses initiative, and the work then becomes stultifying and dull. I think it chiefly the fault of the system, for the work itself can be very interesting and the buildings large and quite important at times. However, one never becomes more than a cog in the machine. So apart from the accompanying security of such a job I would rather go into private practice here.

Business circles here predict boom years and rapid development in HK and it is certain there will be tremendous opportunities for architects and I have not the least doubt I should make most money in this way unless depression follows. However, Y and I are loathe to settle down in HK permanently. It is an easy life and a comfortable one, but I always have the feeling that to live here permanently would be to miss so much – this always seems something of a backwater compared to all that goes on in England – even though a sojourn of a few years duration is fascinating. So the third alternative is to try and get a decent job in England where we should see more of our families; where one would keep in touch with ones friends, where I should undoubtably earn much less and where Y would have to do much more housework! Of course, air travel after the war will probably revolutionise transport and contact between East and West, and make life in the East far less cut off than it is now.

I realise what opportunities there are here for a young English architect with local knowledge and experience. Some time last autumn I was approached by Oscar Eager with a view to going into private practice with him. He is general Manager of Hong Kong Land Investment Co Ltd., the biggest land and property owners in HK (at any rate, amongst the British contingent). They are connected with Jardine’s and their board of directors, include most of the big business men of the Colony. The company owns many valuable sites in the centre of the city and goes in for commercial rather than domestic property. Up to now this company has had all its buildings designed by private architects and latterly John Potter had been doing most of their work for them. Oscar Eager is an estate agent and has no qualifications as an architect and little knowledge of building but he is an astute business man and forsees the possibilities for a private firm of architects who had the solid backing of the HK Land Investment Co., but who were established as a private and separate firm and not as a subsidiary branch of the Land Investment Co.

Before the Anglo-Japanese war here, there were, in his opinion, only two architects here in private practice who were really alive and go ahead; one was John Potter of Lee and Orange and the other, Arthur Ritchie of Palmer and Turner. He said that these two realised that if they could get together they would have HK at their feet as far as things architectural were concerned. Well, poor old John was killed out here at Stanley and Palmer and Turners branch in HK closed down just before the blitz and Ritchie went to India. Mr Eager therefore believes that there is a golden opportunity awaiting any young architect  with initiative; and, in addition, with all the work that the Land Investment Co., would put his way it certainly is an outstanding chance.

Well, to put it shortly, he gave me the chance of stepping into this marvellous job. His outline suggestions were: that we should establish a firm to be known as Eager and Charter, Architects, Civil Engineers and Estate Agents; that the partnership should undergo a 3 or 6 months probationary period; that for the next five years I should receive a minimum guaranteed salary of HK$1,500 per month (about 1125 Sterling per annum (pdv £50,600) plus 33% profits and that thereafter profits would be shared on a 50% basis. He had put the proposition to some of his directors who are here in camp and he said they approved. He had evidently satisfied himself about my work. He said that my 3 years local experience would be invaluable and that it would be far more difficult for him to start with a new man from home (he went so far as to say that unless I cared to take the job he would have to go to England and try to find a suitable man) in fact he was very frank and open and let me see that he was anxious for me to fall in with his suggestions. He also approved of Yvonne who, he said, would be an asset socially! In fact he seemed to have studied the situation from all angles, for he said he considered we were both good mixers and would get on well amongst both Europeans and Chinese, and that apparently, is as important out here as being a good architect! He gave me a fortnight in which to think it over. It would mean starting work straight away after the war here, and that put me in a slightly awkward position, for it might mean forfeiting any Government pay that may have accrued during internment here; it also meant ratting on the PWD at a time when they would urgently need every available architect.

However, I suppose Eager would be prepared to make good the first loss and in the second place one has to look after one’s own interests, I suppose. Well, as may be imagined, Y and I talked it over a good deal. There were one or two things about the proposition that I did not like. Firstly, I did not like the idea of being mixed up with Civil Engineering and Land Agency, particularly the last profession. I know if I wanted to build a house or a block of offices I would choose a firm of architects pure and simple rather than a firm who claimed to deal in all and sundry branches of the building trade – just as, if I wanted my eyes tested, I would rather go to an oculist than to an optician with extra qualifications. I should not so much mind combining with a civil engineer so long as he was a properly qualified man. In other words, I think in the long run it would be detrimental to my practice and name as an architect. Secondly, as the practice grew, the lion’s share of the work would undoubtably fall to the architect and old Oscar Eager would be ‘sitting pretty’ and riding comfortably along! Not that I undervalue his business connections or am forgetful of the opening and chance he is making. But chiefly, it would mean settling definitely in Hong Kong and doing all my work here. It was that which finally decided us against it. I told O.E. that the prospect tempted me very much and that I would very much like to have say 3 years of it, but would want to be able to leave after that period if I wanted to, and return to England.
10 Jun 1943, John Charter's wartime journal

I pointed out that during those years he would have time to select another young architect who could work with me and gain the necessary experience and suggested that my name should not appear in the firm’s title at all. But unfortunately this suggestion did not appeal to him. He said that it was essential in such a project for the name of the architect to appear and for the architect to become a well known personality in the Colony. If I were to leave in a few years time he would have to start all over again with a new man. I saw his point of view and he, I think saw mine. So in the end we agreed that the project as it concerned us individually was just a bit of a miss-fit and reluctantly left it at that. 

O.E. asked me what I thought would be the best way of securing such a man and we discussed it at some length. He proposes to fly to England directly the war is over and select him himself. He will still have to solve the problem of getting a man with some experience of Chinese contractors and their method of working, and also of constructing buildings to suit the difficult climate out here. I said I could supply him with the names of some of my AA friends and acquaintances with whom he might care to get in touch. Then I told him that I was still keen on getting a job with a private firm (to warn him that in that event we might come into competition) and he said he was certain I would find one easily enough and that probably Lee and Orange would take me on. Now I can only hope that I have made the right decision and will not regret, in years to come, that I did not seize the opportunity when it was presented.
11 Jun 1943, John Charter's wartime journal

However, should architecture fail, I may yet get a job at Hollywood! Mrs Gordon Jenner has, for several years lately, while travelling in Europe as a foreign correspondent for her American paper, been doing a bit of talent spotting for some of the film companies. She works on a commission basis – either lump sum or sort of royalties on subsequent films in which her find appears. She says it is awful, as she goes about viewing possible young men as worth so much ‘gold’! And she told me she could sell me to one of the companies. I must say the experience would be fun, but I don’t think I should enjoy much of it even if I had the chance.

That reminds me that I should have mentioned another quite outstanding show that was put on towards the end of February. This was ‘The White Cliffs’ which is a poem about England and America written by an American woman. I believe it became very popular in America and England at the beginning of the war and was used extensively in America for propaganda purposes, being very pro British. An abridged edition, set to music, was recorded by HMV I believe, and John Sterricker, who produced it here, had possessed this set of records and had lent them to ZBW for broadcasting in Hong Kong. The poem in parts is rather heavily sentimental, but for all that it is intensely moving, particularly at a time like this. With musical background arranged by Betty Drown and provided by her choir of about 40 or 50 people, Roy Heasman, violin, drums and Betty at the piano, the whole thing lasted for 50 minutes. Winnie Cox recited the poem simply beautifully. It was a tremendous task she undertook in memorising it. She was the ‘I’ of the poem; the young American girl who comes to England and falls in love with and marries an Englishman. She stood on the stage on a low dais in front of a blue screen with the white cliffs of Dover in the background and seagulls wheeling round.
12 Jun 1943, John Charter's wartime journal

The choir and the musicians were behind the screen. The poem tells the story of how her husband is killed in the Great War of 1914-18 and ends with her son joining up at the outbreak of this war. It was therefore very moving and somewhat harrowing for those who had lost husbands and sons here. But it was splendidly done and quite unique in its way. Terrance Feltham designed the set. John Sterricker is to be congratulated on the whole thing.

This week’s show is a really excellent Vaudeville Variety show, produced by Viv Garton. The week before there had been a classical concert with Greek, ballet, Russian and modern dancing, the last 3 being solos; songs by Gordon Stopani-Thompson who has a very nice baritone voice, and pianoforte by Arthur Lay. Poor old Talbott was to have sung in this concert, but he is now locked up. His mother waits patiently each day to see him being exercised, but the prisoners are now evidently exercised in another part of the prison grounds, out of our sight, so she has not seen him for a week or two now.

‘The Taming of the Shrew’ came before the classical concert. It was dressed in black and white which was very effective. It was quite good but not, I thought, outstanding.

I never thought I would get right through this book in Stanley and would have to start another.  I have no idea what I have written in it as I have not yet bothered to read many of the earlier pages except when trying to recall events or looking to see if I had already written a description of some event. No doubt I have repeated myself at times but I hope I haven’t contradicted myself.

In the early days of this camp I paid $1.00 for a small quantity of ink. It was sufficient to half fill a small sample bottle of HP sauce. To this I added quite an amount of water to make it go as far as possible and towards the end of the bottle I had to dilute it still further. Consequently the writing in some of the last pages of the first volume (that sounds impressive) is very faint indeed. But Maudie has now presented me with half a bottle of real Waterman’s ink, on condition that I occasionally fill her pen from it! Ink was sold in the canteen some time ago at MY2 per small bottle (pdv £22), but we never felt we could afford it. Now ink is unobtainable again.

When we first came into camp we were told by the Japanese that we were to bring no writing materials whatsoever, so we were all surreptitious about our pens, pencils, pads etc. For some time writing paper was quite lacking in camp, and people saved all the wrappers from the jackets of 10 cigarettes we can buy and used them for scrap paper – bridge scores etc., in fact Yvonne made Maudie a set of bridge scorers for her birthday, designed to take cigarette packet wrappers on a re-fill system! Since then pads and scrap-books have been sold at the canteen, but at very high prices.
14 Jun 1943, John Charter's wartime journal

At the beginning of this camp I found three of these stiff backed record books and three paper backed issue and receipt books lying about near the godowns along the road. Two of the paper backed books I gave away (one to Tim when he started to learn Russian) and Yvonne used one of the stiff backed books for keeping the Baby Clinic records in the early days. The front portion of this book is occupied with recipes which she wrote in the early days of this camp – the days when our minds were incessantly occupied with thoughts of food. We hope they will come in useful some day! Now my diary has to overflow into this book as the other paper backed book has been used as our scrap book. Please God I shall not finish this book at Stanley!

Yesterday Y received another letter from England; this time from her Aunt, Mrs Elsie Cooper, written on the 26th June 1942. That is even slower than mail carried by the clippers of yore! It told how they had heard the news of our safety through the Foreign Office at home and how her cable to Chère had crossed one from Chère to her. It sounds as though Chère really got down to it and indulged in a real orgy of cable writing! The rest of the letter contained Crowley family news. This for me at present, is not easy to follow or take a vast interest in, for I have yet to meet the majority of Y’s relatives. She has yet to meet a single relative of mine!
15 Jun 1943, John Charter's wartime journal

The camp is just seething with rumours today: Britain ceased bombing Germany for several days while negotiations for peace were carried on, now the bombing has recommenced on a terrific scale; Italy is out of the war and Turkey is in; we are all going to be repatriated in about one month’s time; Britain has landed troops somewhere in France; the Chinese have won a great victory in central China somewhere; HK was raided by air two days ago.

I believe the heavy bombing of Germany may be correct, but the rest I imagine is pure fiction. It is true that we have been ordered to black out again for almost a week now – so that probably accounts for the raid on HK. This black out is most unpleasant now that the hot weather is upon us. We are not allowed to use our fan because of electricity restrictions, and with night temperatures of 82 to 84 degrees it is simply impossible to hang heavy blankets over the windows, thus excluding what little breeze that does find its way in through the back of the flat. So now we come in at about 8.15 and have supper (bread and jam and water) at about 8.30, by which time the light has almost gone. Then we either sit on the balcony or outside in the vicinity of the blocks and smoke a cigarette until 9.20. At that time a bell rings and we all have to return to our rooms. So it generally means we retire to bed at about 9.30 these days. With the steady deterioration of the food situation these long hours of sleep – or at any rate bed – are probably a good thing. We lie down for two hours at mid-day too, so we spend 12 hours out of 24 lying down!

About June 7th Meijima came into camp and Gimson was called from a BCC meeting to go up the hill to see him. We all expected further news about the repatriation, for though Hatori is No.1 of the Foreign Affairs Section, Meijima is in control of the repatriation and flew recently to Tokyo for instructions. It was he who cabled Hatori that he would have good news for the civilian internees and Hatori passed on the news immediately. Then when Hatori heard further details they were given us in the manner that I reported on 25th May. This time we expected further details, but Gimson drew a complete blank. The notice he posted stated that Mr. Meijima had no further repatriation news; that we were not to be given the ‘tobacco allowance’ that Gimson had applied for (pocket money); that on no account were we to mention the repatriation in post-cards to town, and that he had visited the HK prisoners of war in Japan and that they were all well and happy. We gathered later that the No. 2 was displeased about something. The story went round that Meijima was very annoyed because Hatori had stolen his thunder in the matter of announcing the news to the camp and that he was therefore taking it out of the internees as a result. Whether this is true or not I do not know, though, apparently it does happen quite often amongst these Japanese officers – a matter of losing face I suppose.  Meijima came in again yesterday, but so far nothing has been announced about his visit.

I hear that Nakazawa, the No. 2 Superintendant of this camp has been called up for military service and will be leaving here shortly. I think this news is accurate; at all events, Nakazawa presented all members of the softball league with two packets of cigarettes as a memento or, rather, as a parting gift. He was quite a keen softball player and played for the Indian Quarters ‘B’ team.

He is a nice young man of about 25-30 I suppose, and I don’t suppose that his place is likely to be taken by a more congenial person. Today, I hear, he told one of the police, with whom he seems very friendly, that the women are leaving HK at the end of this month and that the men will be leaving a few weeks later. Whether the men are to be taken to Japan or to a British port I do not know; nor do I know how much a person like Nakazawa is really likely to know.

At the end of last month it was announced in the paper that there must be a reduction in the consumption of electricity in HK. The rate charged beyond a certain unit per head in each house increased enormously. Hatori said there must be a 40% reduction in the amount of current used in camp. To effect this, all fans in these flats have been disconnected (there was a fan in the living room of each flat); no cooking by electricity is done by the kitchen; bakeries have doubled up (our bakery now cooks for the hospital and St Stephens bake for block 10 etc). But the principle reduction has been made in the consumption of the flats. Each person is allowed approximatley 14 units per month. This means, in our room, that each person is allowed to use the hot plate for 1 hour per day, these two hotplates being about 2 amps each. This works out quite well, for it means that Y and I between us can cook for 2 hours each day if we want to.
16 Jun 1943, John Charter's wartime journal

In fact we find that we hardly have to cut down at all on our previous cooking times – we economise in such ways as queuing at the water boiler to get hot water for coffee instead of boiling it from cold as we used to (we still have coffee about 3 times per week, using the old grounds plus one new teaspoon each time – just enough to make us aware that it is coffee!) and I surreptitiously collect my shaving water every other day from the water boiler instead of boiling it on the hot plate. It makes me wonder how much some people must have used their hot plate since even with this allowance we are effecting a substantial reduction.

In addition to this restriction of power, all hot plates must be off by 8.00 p.m. If a hot plate is left on (it can easily be detected from the meter)  the fuse for the whole flat is pulled – a most effective deterrent as the culprit then has to face the wrath and indignation of his own near neighbours! Also, every fourth day we do without hot plates altogether, the current being switched on at 8.00 p.m. for lighting purposes. Nowadays, of course, we have less to cook than we used to. Congee is cooked in the kitchen and served in the mornings, so those who have a little porridge left are saving it. We have no cocoa left to boil at nights, no oranges with which to make marmalade etc., no flour for cakes. We have a little flour still which we mix with the rice flour for binding when we make scones, but it will not last much longer.

I have just heard a strong rumour which is alleged to have emanated from ‘the hill’ unofficially, that the women are to have all their heavy luggage ready by the 25th of this month, prior to embarking on the 28th; and that all the men excepting the Police, Prison Warders and Merchant Seamen will be following in a few weeks time. Let’s hope it is true! Another rumour states that Gimson will issue a notice, regarding repatriation, either this evening or tomorrow. These stories remind me of the comic song which starts: ‘I heard, yes I heard, though it wasn’t told to me, still I heard’.

The long drought was broken at the end of May and since then we have had some heavy rain; so our fears of a water shortage are now allayed. Major Manners is keeping records of the rainfall and states that 8 ½” fell in the first 4 months and that 16” fell in May. Most of these 16” fell in the last week when we had some good old downpours.

We have swum quite a lot recently. We are attending Vera Murrell’s crawl classes and hope to be able to produce a reasonable crawl stroke by the time we leave this camp. (If the repatriation rumours prove true, I fancy we will not achieve this objective). Vera trained for 8 years and swam for Britain in two Olympiads. I believe her record is good and I must find out her maiden name – I shall probably recognise it when I hear it. It is pleasant to be taught by an Olympic champion; it gives us a feeling of complete confidence in her style and technique though it makes me feel a complete crab when she gets down to it and demonstrates. At present we are doing the leg stroke with a dog paddle for the arms. When I am completely master of the crawl stroke, if I can move as fast as Vera does when she demonstrates the dog paddle, I shall be more than satisfied. Maudie and Vera live together in block 10, so it was comparatively easy to ask her to teach us. Y, I regret to say, seems far more adept at the business than I.

Since being interned I have broken the stopping out of two of my teeth. In both cases this happened by biting small stones or bits of gravel in the rice – it is impossible to wash out all the grit. We are constantly crunching pieces of grit and numerous people have broken stoppings, and the casualties amongst synthetic teeth are legion.

Sammy Shields is the camp dentist and he has been kept very busy. He is actually a Government dental mechanic and his actual experience in dentistry before he came to camp was very limited. But this camp has certainly given him his opportunity and he has made the most of it. One of my teeth became unstopped in the Tai Koon Hotel but I put off going to Sammy because I doubted his ability. But towards the end of April, when the second stopping came out, I judged it wisest to go and made an appointment for 7th May. On that day he stopped one tooth and made the next appointment – 28th May! He said he had booked over 300 appointments. On May 28th he stopped the second tooth and wanted me to come once more on June 4th to have them polished, but by then he had fallen sick himself, poor chap, with a duodenal ulcer and I am still waiting to have my teeth polished. I must say I was agreeably surprised with his work for he seems to have done these very well indeed and general report has it that he is first rate at extractions; so he should have little difficulty in passing any practical exam if, after the war, he wishes to become fully qualified.

While I was with him one day, a man came in to ask him if he could mend his plate. Shields said he couldn’t do anything at the moment as he had no plaster of paris. He said Newbigging was unable to get any at all from the Japanese (scandalous) and that the funds of the IRC were exhausted and they could supply none. He said there were 140 sets of false teeth waiting to be mended.

“But I can’t eat with them as they are,” said the voice.

“I’m afraid you’ll have to manage without them then,” said Sammy.

Came the forlorn question,“You mean just live on slops?”

“For the time being, I’m afraid,” said Sammy. Well there is one comfort in this camp: if you look around you can always find someone who is worse off than you!!

Sammy also said that these months of internment with a diet quite lacking in calcium was going to prove disastrous for the teeth of the children here. Unfortunately HK depends on rainwater catchments for its water supply, and so there is no calcium in the water.
17 Jun 1943, John Charter's wartime journal

This morning I was medically examined once more, on this occasion by the special medical board at the hospital. Every man in camp is being examined at the request of the Japanese authorities. First my blood pressure was taken and I was examined for hernia by Dr Youggski (or some such name – he is a British naturalised Russian). This time, my blood pressure was 117/70, an increase on the last when it was taken about a month ago for the labour roster; so my digging must have raised it. Youggski told me it was very good for this camp. Then I appeared before a battery of doctors, Drs Valentine, Uttley, Newton, Deane-Smith and Prof. Digby. They merely questioned me, tapped my knees, looked into my mouth and then dismissed me. So I presume I am alright so far as the general health of the camp is concerned, though I am told that by now not a single person in camp is considered to be really physically fit.

At the moment I am suffering from a small boil in my ear which is most inconvenient, not to say painful. It is due, I think, to getting water in my ear the other day. Fortunately it is just inside my ear and not near the drum. At present the Lord seems to have visited upon numerous people in this camp one of Job’s many afflictions, namely a plague of boils. It may be partly due to the season of the year but I expect it is chiefly due to the poor state of health of many people. Well thank heavens we are in Hong Kong and not, let us say, in Singapore, for in this location we do at least get a pretty chilly winter which must make a lot of difference to the general health of Europeans here. 

Yvonne managed to dispose of her silk brocade house-coat for MY30 (pdv £170), which was not a bad price; it cost just over 3 pound sterling new and though now second hand it had hardly been warn at all. Wendy Whittaker bought it and the transaction was conducted by Maudie and Anne Muir between them. We promptly translated the money into food, buying: 8 x 12 oz tins Corned Mutton @ MY3.10 = MY24.80 (pdv £140); 2 lbs Onions @  MY0.50 = MY 1 (pdv£5.60); 2 lbs Soya Beans @ MY1.45 = MY2.90; 1 lb Wong Tong @ MY1.90.

It seems a pretty paltry amount and in peace time one would get at least 5 times the amount. However, it is a Godsend now. Soya beans are rich in protein value; onions make all the difference to the taste of camp food. Onions are the only commodity that has fallen in price recently at the canteen; two or three months ago they were Y1.00 (pdv£5.60) per lb.

I can find no trace whatsoever of my Westminster Bank cheque book, which is a pity, for Yvonne cannot now buy the silk underclothing from Mrs Hall. I was sure I had brought it into camp with me, but evidently not.
19 Jun 1943, John Charter's wartime journal

The only further repatriation news is a notice from Gimson stating that the Japanese authorities (camp authorities) categorically deny that they have any further news of repatriation. In the same notice Gimson states: he has brought to the notice of the Japanese further medical reports and statistics prepared by Drs Macleod and Deane-Smith which show a marked increase in the cases of beri-beri in camp. This is due to people eating too much rice because they are hungry and having an insufficiency of other foods to balance it. Fortunately neither Y nor I have shown any signs yet of beri-beri, though we eat a large amount of rice.

For breakfast we have a plate of congee (rice boiled to a mush) with a sprinkle of sugar and a mug of tea. For lunch we have a plateful of boiled rice with a little tomato and bean stew (occasionally with a few bits of meat floating in it) and whatever we are able to add ourselves in the way of corned beef etc. For tea we have either scones made principally of rice flour or some slices of bread. For the second kitchen meal at 5.00 p.m. we usually have the bulk of our official meat ration, sometimes as cold meat with marrow and or water spinach, but more usually in the form of a stew accompanied by the inevitable plateful of rice. The meat and vegetable allowance is very small and one seems compelled to eat large quantities of rice so as not to feel hungry. For supper we have either rice scones again or bread. We get a loaf of bread each (10 ozs) every other day. This we find is inadequate and so Y and I make rice scones on alternate days. As these scones become leathery if they are kept we eat them all on one day and save the bread for the next day. So on alternate days we have five meals which largely consist of rice. In peace time I seldom had much of a tea at all, relying on three meals a day; here we have 5 meals and I should hate to cut out one of them! It looks as though we may have to soon.

The other item that Gimson had enquired about as HM’s representative was the imprisonment of Sir Vandeleur Grayburn and Dr Selwyne-Clarke and the conditions of their confinement. We have seen Selwyne-Clarke walking in the prison grounds.

Yesterday we received another card from Bunny Browne (John’s Best Man) who still seems full of beans. Capt. Min sent Maudie a portrait of himself that someone had done for him. It is a side view and is extremely good. Maudie was thrilled. She has recently received another batch of letters from Peg (her daughter) too, so, at present she is on top of the world – not that she ever lets herself get downed.

Last Monday there was a camp art exhibition staged. Not all the entries were produced in camp, but a great many were and some were very good. A Russian (British) by the name of Savitsky had entered some 20 portraits or so that he had done of people in the camp, and also a few of naval craft in motion. They really were very good indeed and I hear he is entirely self taught. The portraits are a little hard and not all are likenesses, but some are excellent.

Last night the blackout ended, thank goodness, so we can now see to read or write in the evenings.
22 Jun 1943, John Charter's wartime journal

Today, in spite of prodigious quantities of rain, has been quite a gala day. Yesterday, after the official visit of some dozen officials headed by Messrs Hatori and Meijima, the news went round (like lightening) that everyone was to receive another MY20. This proved correct and our bank balance which this morning stood at MY2.45 now stands at MY42.45. After we had spent the MY30 Y raised for her house-coat we had a balance of MY9 left over from our previous balance. The corned mutton in the canteen selling at MY3.10 per 12 oz tin was marked ‘Limited quantity’ so we decided to try and buy two more tins before it sold out and the price went up once more, as it always does with each fresh consignment. We managed to find two people whose turn it was to buy at the canteen but who were not buying the mutton and bought their share. We were lucky for now the fresh lot is an inferior, un-labelled brand and costs MY3.85 per 12oz tin. Still, no doubt we shall buy a few tins of this lot too.

The other excitement today has been letters from home. This has really been a much greater thrill than the money. Apparently a new ship load of letters has arrived from Japan through the Red X organisation. They are all well censored letters! First censored in the country of origin; then in Tokyo, and finally by the Japanese in Hong Kong. Consequently they come into camp in driblets. Last Saturday I had a letter from Father and my first one from Betty. The only other letter I had had was the first joint one from Mother and Father; this one from Father was dated 25th October and Betty’s was dated 7th October.
23 Jun 1943, John Charter's wartime journal

Then on Monday another one from Betty dated 13th October was delivered and yesterday, the said gala day, a letter from Mother, one from Father, a postcard from Betty and a letter and a card from Aunt Ethelwynne!! Yvonne was not quite deserted, as her friend Pat Sennet had sent her two letters. We were very glad to get these letters, as can be imagined, and were much envied by the Bidwells. The most interesting bit of news was that Mother and Father had moved to Colombo, though I was very sorry to hear it had been occasioned by the death of Mr Radley. They certainly were rather buried alive at a little place like Matale, and in Colombo they will be much more at the centre of things. On second thoughts I remember Y and I were allowed to send a joint letter only, and this, in the end, we sent to Chère in Australia.

The other interesting piece of news was that the Crowley’s had received a letter from Yvonne, probably the letter that went in the Kamakura Maru with the Americans. I hope Mother and Father got mine; it is possible that it went first to England. The Crowley’s had sent this news to Father and Mother, but so far their letter acknowledging it has not yet arrived. Father seems to have the impression that Y and I have a room to ourselves! This letter of his was the latest of a whole batch and was dated 9th December 1942, the earliest in the batch being the cards from Betty and Aunt E dated 17th September 1942. It sounded, from one of Mother’s and Aunt E’s letters as though Betty had been away from her clinics for some time but had now returned. I wonder what the reason is; whether it was war work of any kind or whether she had been ill – I hope not the latter. Betty’s letter giving news of Howard, Graham, and David Lewis was most interesting. That is the kind of news one loves to get in a place like this. “No news of Billy,” she said.  I wish I knew how he was getting on. So Howard is treading the same ground that his father trod before him in the last war; most interesting. I’m glad Graham is India way – more chance of his having survived so far than if he had been in Tunisia which is where I feared he would be moved. Mother and Father each write alternate weeks and so do Aunt E and Betty. This means that the vast majority of their letters have not got through. It is possible that some of the earlier ones will arrive later on.

For some weeks now, the 28th of this month has been named as the embarkation date for the repatriation of the women and even at this late date, although no official announcement has been made, there are, apparently, several gentlemen who are supposed to be in the know who are prepared to bet 5 to 1 that the women are still going on the 28th. I have also heard the story that is supposed to be quite true, that the French ship Porthos of the Messagiris Maritime Line is now in Kowloon docks. Conjecture has it that this ship is to be used for repatriating the women; I am not sure of its size. Well, time will prove.  Personally I doubt all these tales – as usual.

By the way, the third thing of importance that occurred yesterday was the announcement in the HK News that a state of Martial Law had been declared in the 8 southern states of Italy. I wonder if our second front will start there. So King George has been indulging in some globetrotting too. And Field Marshall Sir Archibald Wavell is to succeed Lord Linlithgow as Viceroy of India. That is an appointment which, cut off as we are from facts here, we cannot really understand. It seems to me strange, after making Wavell a Field Marshall, to give him a civilian appointment. It seems as though the whole of India may be intended as the big base for operations against Japan (a) Wavell has been put in charge; (b) there may be the threat of serious trouble from some of the Indians (though this would hardly require the presence of a Field Marshall); or (c) Wavell may somehow have fallen foul of someone important in Britain or America and they want him out of the way. One day I may know.
29 Jun 1943, John Charter's wartime journal

The fateful 28th has passed; no ship hove in sight and all the women and children are still here. So I smile complacently and say, “I thought so”. However, the next date for departure has already been fixed and the day named is Friday, 23rd July. Well, in that case Yvonne will just be able to celebrate my 31st birthday with me – something like the occasion, four years ago, when I spent my 27th birthday in Ceylon with Mother and Father and set sail the next day for HK.

I have, I am thankful to say, almost completely recovered from my ear affliction. Dr Smalley, who treated me, told me that it looked as though I was developing a many headed carbuncle and I feared I was in for a very painful time. Certainly my ear and the adjacent glands swelled, ached and throbbed and inside my ear was a continual popping and bubbling. This was most noticeable in the quiet of the hot and sultry nights. I had somehow to prod and prop my pillow so that I lay on the side of the affected ear (to help the discharge) without lying on the ear itself, as that was too painful. I longed, unavailingly to turn over and was so hot and restless that I hardly slept for several nights. I simply soaked my pillow with perspiration. Then Dr Smalley gave me a course of strepticide tablets – 12 in 24 hours – and though they made me feel like nothing on earth for some time they evidently did the trick. The threatening boil or carbuncle dispersed and the ear is practically right again.

This strepticide is wonderful stuff. I believe the doctors do not quite know themselves of what it is composed, but apparently it carries on a general war against all types of germs in the human body and seems to be administered successfully for scores of different ailments.
Now Yvonne is in the wars a bit. She has been suffering a little from toothache and yesterday Sammy Shields stopped a tooth from which she had broken the stopping. He found, however, that all four of her wisdom teeth (two of which have come through in camp) have decayed, due, he seems to think to the camp diet. It is a shame. Any way, he suggests that 3 of them should come out, though the fourth has not grown straight and is impacted against the next tooth; this one he may leave to be treated in Australia if the women are repatriated soon. So, poor Y has an ordeal before her. But wisdom teeth generally seem to be more trouble than they are worth and this camp is not a bad place in which to get over such operations, providing special invalid’s food etc. is not required.

Last night there was considerable excitement. Apparently, all day, people had been summoned up the hill for various reasons; some not being allowed to return. I heard as many as 30 had been called up but do not know if this is true. At all events, at about 8.30 Yamashita’s small car came to block A3, and presently Anderson (of the Govt stores department) climbed in with a small basket of kit. His room has been sealed by Yamashita and he has not returned. I hear that 8 people were detained last night, either at Stanley Police Station or in the gaol. Amongst these for certain are; another Anderson, Hall of Lane Crawfords (Eileen’s newly wedded husband), Scott (the Deputy Commissioner of Police), Bradley, Gillespie (Head of ICI in HK) a man named Reece and someone else. This morning I hear others were called up – Revd Alton and Dr Watt were mentioned, though this may be incorrect. Everyone is trying to guess the cause of it all. A rumour is circulating to the effect that a Chinese in town was found to be in possession of promissory notes signed by people in camp and that these people were now being apprehended. Well, there is some blooming Chinese in town with a note signed by me! So I hope he is being careful!!

I suppose I am foolish to write that sort of thing down in the diary. Wild rumours went round last night saying that the Japanese were going to inspect our baggage. I spent some time anxiously debating where I should hide this! I have come to the conclusion that I must either destroy this diary or smuggle it out with me, for to try and hide it and risk its later discovery might possibly get other people mentioned in its pages in to trouble. The thing is, how the Dickens can I smuggle through a bulky thing like this, assuming we are one day moved or repatriated?

On top of last night’s excitement came the ‘Block-head’ to say a blackout had been ordered from midnight! Most queer. We have to turn out our lights at 10.00 p.m. in any case. Now I suppose we shall have to endure several more days without light.

One other item I must mention very briefly: on Friday 25th Y managed to dispose of a bracelet which has helped.
06 Jul 1943, John Charter's wartime journal

As usual, the first list of names of those who were summoned up the hill proved incorrect. It is possible that they were summoned, but not all were detained. Six, however, have not been allowed back, and enquiries from Gimson have received the reply that these men have been arrested on definite charges, the nature of which will be notified to the camp Commandant (Gimson) later – presumably when they are brought up for trial. In the mean time the probable charges held against them have been guessed at. These are that Reece (of Cable and Wireless) was in possession of a wireless set.

The story goes that the Japanese arrived at his block with a blue print plan of his room, marking the exact spot where the wireless was hidden. If that is true, it must have been the work of a ‘Fifth Columnist’ in this camp. It is known, almost for certain, that there are two or three such odious people in camp; or at least, our police here are doing a spot of detective work and are keeping watch on certain suspected persons. One of the Chinese supervisors is certainly suspected. Needless to say, no wireless set was found in Reece’s room – or so I hear. Anderson (of Govt stores) is supposed to be charged with receiving wireless parts in parcels sent from town. There is the story of a valve buried in a tin of jam. There are other stories of other people receiving money in grease proof packets at the bottom of tins of lard etc. Apparently, these things got through alright, but the recipients hadn’t the sense to keep their mouths shut about it and, apparently, confided the news to friends who confided it to other friends who, evidently in their eagerness to tell a good story, either spoke too loudly, or chose the wrong person in whom to confide. At all events, the other four are supposed to have been guilty of sending messages illicitly to town or receiving illicit goods. These four are: Scott (Police), Hall (Lane Crawford), Bradley (Sanitary Dept UDC) and someone named Want. Poor Eileen Hall is really in rather a state by now. Her husband was taken off in just the shirt, shorts and shoes he was wearing and nothing has been allowed to be sent to him since. I am not quite sure where they are being detained, but I imagine it is in the prison.

Last Saturday, I received a Red Cross form with a 25 word message from Betty. It was dated 13th January 1943 and is one of the latest messages received in camp that I have heard of. It just stated that they were all well, including Mother, Father, Aunt E and the Morrises, and that the Crowleys had received Y’s letter. We had heard all that before in the letters, but Betty had evidently found that she could send us a message by the Red Cross and had sent this very welcome note in case none of their letters had got through. She had written it in script. Several of the Red Cross forms have come in all together, some dated January 1942! The Colonial Sec. is enquiring if we can send the 25 word reply for which provision is made on the back of the sheet. I wonder if the Red Cross forms we were allowed to write ages ago ever reached their destinations.
07 Jul 1943, John Charter's wartime journal

There has been a considerable amount of commotion up the hill this afternoon. Mr Lammert said there was a tremendous amount of shouting amongst the Chinese and (presumably) the Japanese for about half an hour, which finished up with the sound of blows. Some time later, a European accompanied by about 5 Chinese with picks and shovels, and Mr Yamashita, went along to the end of the American blocks and started digging beside some rocks there, not far from the spot where I was digging this morning in the process of preparing a new rubbish dump. Evidently they think something is buried there. Y and I have just walked along to see if we could see anything, but the site, we hear, is at the end of block 18 and we could not see it from above. But we bumped into Patterson and he said that Waterton (Government Radio Officer) is digging at the end of block 18 with two plain clothes Japanese on guard. The guards are armed with revolvers. Patterson said he was walking past and was just on the point of hailing Waterton and saying, “What the Dickens are you digging at this time of the day,” when he noticed the two gentlemen in the shade and revolvers – so he just hummed a tune and tried to look unconcerned!

Patterson says that in addition to Waterton, J. Fraser (Defence Secretary for the Colony) and a Police sergeant, Roberts, have been called up the hill. Yamashita and Nakazawa are down there now, and another car has just gone along to the end of the American blocks, though I could not see who was in it. The general conjecture is that it is a wireless set they are after. There must be fifth columnists in this camp – several of them.  It is unfortunately possible that those under arrest have been made to talk.

When General Cohen (one time bodyguard to some important Chinese leader (Chiang Kai Shek) was taken to town for questioning in the early days of this camp, he came back with his legs bandaged up and in a state of exhaustion. He has never said a word about what happened to him, but ‘third degree’ is evidently in vogue amongst the gendarmerie.

Poor Waterton seems to be in a very bad way. It was apparently he who was being shouted at and hit, up the hill at mid-day, for when he was made to dig, his face was cut and bleeding on one side. During the digging he swooned and Dr Ballean was called to revive him. Then he was ordered to proceed with the digging. Finally he unearthed a tin box – about 2’ x 1’ x 1’, I was told by eye witnesses – which was put in Yamashita’s car and taken up the hill. Later, I hear, he was again brought down and produced a loud speaker, also buried. The poor chap fainted again and was douched with water. He must be in a bad state. It is all very depressing and one feels terribly sorry for him and any of his associates; sorry, not to say apprehensive.

One more man, another Anderson, has been arrested by the Japanese. We are making a collection in camp to buy and send in food to these ten men.The Japanese have expressed their willingness to let this be done. All bread must be in thin slices; all tinned foods will be opened etc. etc. – they are going to make certain no messages are sent to them.

The Japanese have informed Gimson that three orders must be rigidly observed: (1) the curfew regulations must be strictly observed, both morning and evening (we have to be within the vicinity of our blocks by 7.45 p.m. now, in our rooms by 9.30 p.m. and lights out at 10.00 p.m. and everyone must be in their rooms for roll-call between 8 and 8.15 a.m.). (2) No one must attempt to escape from camp, and (3) No one must attempt to send messages to town other than through the legal channels. If any of these rules are infringed the whole camp is to be punished. Strangely enough, no reference is made to wireless prohibition. Things are beginning to look unpleasant.

A notice came around today which said the instances of malnutrition in this camp during June of this year have been worse than at any time since June of last year. The C.S. had forwarded the medical report to the Japanese and asked if camp rations could be increased, if not permanently, then until such time as further IRC provisions were received. As far as I am concerned I am feeling better just now than I was a month ago.

Recently the Japs have been sending into camp, frozen mutton which the Dairy Farm had in cold storage before the war. Fortunately the Japanese and Chinese do not fancy mutton, they prefer beef and pork, and prices recently quoted in the paper showed pork at about MY6.40 per catty (1 1/3 lbs), beef at about MY5.60 and mutton at only MY3.60. The percentage of bone sent in with the beef has been found to be much greater than the percentage of bone in the mutton (by weight), so that with mutton we get more meat than with beef. We have not had pork for ages. This is lucky, because the mutton is far more palatable for us than the tough beef which is, I think, nothing more than those big Chinese water-buffalo. 

Incidentally, Anderson, the Quartermaster (now in prison) raised an objection some time ago because he observed the half carcass of beef sent were carefully cut so that the greater portion of the animals spine was included in the half carcass sent to camp. The Chinese contracting butcher was selling it at an all in price, flesh and bone, and was cunningly seeing to it that we got more than our fair share of the bone! The other half carcasses he presumably sold in smaller pieces at a higher price.

Recently we have had a still better deal. Four times now, frozen liver has been sent into camp. This also comes from the Dairy Farm I understand. This is a very good form of meat for us and we get as large a portion of it as we do with mutton. In addition, the workers’ rations have recently been supplemented. Those doing manual labour of the heavier variety (digging, fetching rations etc.) get double rations at the meat meal on days which they work. Lately, all workers have been given 8 ozs of liquid cocoa made with cocoa and soya bean milk and a biscuit made from rice husks and bean residue at the morning meal on the days on which they were working. This is because lately the physical state of the manual labourers has been declining more noticeably than in any other section of the community. This, I fancy, is where my lean type of frame comes off better than those of the more fleshy gentlemen.

Within the last two months I have actually put on one pound! I now weigh 139 ½ lbs instead of 138 ½  lbs. However, I am lower than this time last year, for after first reaching my record low level of 135 lbs I rose to 150 lbs when bread was issued regularly last year. One is warned not to overdo things, however, for fear of straining one’s heart.

The weather has been terribly oppressive just now. It feels as though there may be a heavy thunderstorm or a typhoon coming up.
10 Jul 1943, John Charter's wartime journal

We have had our thunderstorm, but we only got the fringe of it. Still, we had buckets of rain. The weather is still very heavy and sticky and there is more thunder about. It was very hot a week ago; I am told the mercury reached the 90’ mark.

Yvonne has again been to visit Sammy Shields and he extracted the second wisdom tooth – even more painlessly than the first. He now wants to have a go at the impacted tooth. Well, it’s a good thing to get these things done here. Sammy has now managed to get the wherewithal to make and mend dental plates and the toothless are flocking to him in droves. I don’t know how he got the stuff; I’m sure it was not supplied by the Japanese. However, they have sent in one cylinder of oxygen which was urgently asked for. It was meant for use in operations, but at present it is being used for some of the bad TB cases.

We broke, or rather, one of our electric light bulbs burned out the other night and I went to the canteen to enquire about a new one. The Japs will only allow in 25 watt bulbs, which are quite useless for reading, and for these we have to pay MY1.60 (pdv£9).  If you are unlucky enough to have no money, you just sit in darkness. There is absolutely nothing we get from the Japs without paying for it except for the scanty food rations. It makes me sick! I’m sure war prisoners in British territory are not treated in this niggling way.

Mrs Jenner was called up the hill the other day and interviewed, as a journalist, by Mr Meijima and some other Japanese. Her opinion was asked about various subjects and she had to make careful replies. We have read, in the local press, statements that are said to have been made by prisoners of war in other Japanese occupied territory. These have been so painfully in praise of Japanese aims, aspirations, and general treatment of people in conquered territories that one doesn’t believe a word of it.

The Japanese overdo their propaganda – they are not subtle or plausible enough. They will omit or completely alter any adverse comment or criticism; they will take a simple statement of appreciation for some small concession granted and magnify it out of all proportion to its true value. I suppose it takes in some people – probably quite a number – but not those who have any power of imagination or penetration. It must be chiefly for home consumption.

Mrs Jenner was aware of all this and, I imagine, had to do some pretty rapid thinking in making her replies, so as to avoid making a statement that could be used as propaganda. But the interesting news she gleaned was: that a ship (presumably neutral) has left Lorenco Marques with 50 tons of medical provisions and drugs and more IRC food for Hong Kong. She asked about repatriation and Meijima told her that arrangements were well underway, but had been suspended, “When you sank three Japanese hospital ships”.

These negotiations, she gathered, had now been resumed and the women and children were to be repatriated on a per capita basis: there was no question of a ‘mercy ship’ as had been rumoured earlier on. So it looks as though the women will be going alright. I am glad of that. But I do not think there is any likelihood of the men going. Heavens! Fancy having to face another year or two of this – if we can last out as long as that! I shall have to start learning Chinese after all!

Today I was given a pair of sand shoes by the Welfare, as I am a manual labourer and my shoes get heavy to wear whilst doing my communal work. However, as we have a little cash at present we feel I ought to make them available for someone else. But, as I am in need of some shoes I propose to keep them and donate MY3.00 to the Welfare, the approximate cost of the shoes. These shoes are amongst the few reasonable buys in the canteen.

Corned beef now costs MY6.40 per 12 oz tin (8/-) (pdv £18) and Pilchards MY5.50 (6/9) per 15 oz tin!  Y and I, after getting our surprise packet, had ordered one dozen tins of corned beef at MY4.60 on a special indent canteen order. However, the canteen posted a notice a few days later to say that on placing the order they were informed the price of corned beef had risen to MY6.40! We quickly cancelled our order and Yvonne dashed about asking people with tickets for the next canteen if they were going to buy their corned mutton. Vera Murrell proved a great stand by and managed to get 10 vacancies from the women in Block 10; they all anticipate repatriation and are not storing up tinned meat. In this way we bought 12 tins from the present canteen stock at MY4.40. When that stock is sold out the next lot will be MY6 something. So we saved ourselves about MY20 (pdv£112.50.)  What a game! 

We have also ordered 4 lbs of lard at MY6.20 per pound. In addition we buy 6 eggs per week and 6 bananas. We have an egg for lunch on three days a week instead of opening a tin of meat. Eggs at present are 77 sen, so 6 of them cost about the same as a 12 oz tin of meat, and they are fresh and much better value for one’s money. However, eggs won’t keep and the supply might suddenly end, so we have to try and strike a balance. At this rate, we have enough food to last to the end of September. What happens after that, goodness knows.
11 Jul 1943, John Charter's wartime journal

About four days ago, on a small tree by the hospital, an atlas moth emerged from its huge grey cocoon  and hung on it for the rest of the day, its huge and beautiful wings outspread, drying off. I suppose it flew off that night, for next morning it was gone. It maybe that some naturalist like Dr Herklotts took it away, but I don’t expect so. The cocoon was gone too. We had gone down that evening to have a look at it and it certainly was a very handsome insect. This one measured about 8” from wing tip to tip, I believe sometimes they are even bigger. The red brown wings were beautifully marked and edged with dark brown and cream, and in each of the upper and lower wings was a transparent ‘window’. In the tips of the upper wings, the shape and markings look just like the side view of a serpent’s head. The moth had a beautiful soft crimson waist coat with very elegant markings on his tummy – little rings picked out in cream. Hong Kong is, I believe, a great place for butterflies and moths. It is in the latitude where migrating insects, both from the cold and the hot regions, call at one season or other of the year, and hundreds of different types can be caught in HK.
 
The only other time I can remember seeing a live atlas moth (two in this case) was at Rawdon, Kynsey Road, Colombo, when I was 7 or 8 years old. I remember when Betty and I climbed our favourite (though forbidden) tree and found two of the enormous things clinging to their cocoons. They scared the life out of us.
13 Jul 1943, John Charter's wartime journal

The Commissioner of Police, Mr Pennefather-Evans, was arrested by the Japanese on Sunday morning and has been detained with the others ever since. He was called away from Holy Communion. That now makes eleven. I cannot imagine what charge has been brought against him. Both the Commissioner of Police and the DCP are now awaiting trial. I wonder if the Japanese are scared about firearms and think the police may have brought some with them.

Yesterday I received another letter – or rather postcard – from Aunt E. Y and I have been lucky with letters. In it, she mentions the costume I sent home to Betty by the Mollem’s and the costume material I had sent to her by John Theobald, both for Xmas 1941. I hoped they had got these things, but I knew that British authorities had tightened up their regulations concerning clothing and wondered if, because of the voucher regulations, they would encounter difficulties. I hope they did not. So Jim and Mary Collier are both married. It makes me begin to feel old when my young cousins start marrying. This card was dated 27th September 1942.
17 Jul 1943, John Charter's wartime journal

About a fortnight ago, eleven more people came in, chiefly bank people.  Alec Kennedy was amongst them; he had spent the early days of internment in this camp, then was taken to town by the Japs to assist with the business of liquidating the HK Shanghai Bank. He has now returned and when I asked him if he was glad he said, “Well, yes and no. We had more freedom outside and felt we were more in touch with things; but it’s much pleasanter living out here”.

He said there were still quantities of tinned food in the Chinese shops but the owners would only sell a small amount at a time and then say they had sold out. What they do is to sell enough to buy rice and food for themselves and those they support, and then shut down. Prices are continually rising, so it would not pay for them to sell more than they have to at a time. In fact I suppose food is one of the best investments these days. Alec also said there was quite a lot of flour about still, but it was very difficult to get for the same reason. Prices are beginning to shoot up now.

Yesterday, 29 more people came in. 17 were British, all of them bank people and their families (HK Bank, Chartered and Mercantile); 10 were Dutch, also bankers; and two were Norwegians.

I hear the war news is excellent. Of course we have been thrilled of late by the news of the British and American invasion of Sicily which started on 7th July. Reading between the lines of the local paper, it is evident that our forces are making headway in spite of all the reports which would lead us to believe our forces have only a few more hours left before they are hurled back into the sea. We hear, actually, that they are doing magnificently; also the Russians on the Eastern front are hurling in simply huge numbers of men and tanks – so much so that the Germans, who started the offensive recently, cannot cope with the numbers, and their much heralded offensive is petering out. What millions of lives must have been lost on that front.

Today, 15 of us, under Drs Macleod and Mackie (the latter is HK’s malariologist) and escorted by Mr Yamashita, set out at 8.30 a.m. on an anti-malarial expedition. We carried with us hand sickles and a few spades and set to work to clear the rain water channels in the flat and over grown field or plot below the Prep School. This was outside the camp barbed wire boundary fence, and it was really quite pleasant to be beyond the confines of the camp. We cut back the dense and over hanging grass at the edge of the cement ditches and dug the earth and weeds out of some of the shallower ones which were completely choked up.

Dr Mackie tested the water with the aid of his little dipper and he showed me specimens of the anopholea or larvae of the malaria mosquito. They look rather like longish black or grey seeds (a dandelion seed, only bigger) and lie along the surface of the water (just submerged) and not at right angles to it as do most mosquito larvae. Down in this field were forty graves. Macleod said they were all new since he visited the site six months earlier, so this must be the burial ground of the unfortunate Chinese who have died recently in prison. We periodically see a gang of Chinese coolies emerging from the prison with pick and shovel and a coffin.

Today is Pop’s birthday. Many happy returns Pop.
22 Jul 1943, John Charter's wartime journal

Today is my birthday. Many happy returns me. I wonder if Pop and I shall have met again before we celebrate our next. Dear me! I feel I’m growing quite elderly ((he was aged 31)).

Today has been notable firstly for the good feeds we have had – breakfast, fried eggs on fried bread and coffee; for lunch Y made a beautiful little pie from one of our carefully hoarded tins of meat and vegetable and we had one of our remaining two Red Cross parcel puddings (apple), delicious, finished off with coffee. For tea we had a cake which we had made for the room. It was made from rice flour we had ground, flavoured with banana and steamed. I don’t know how it would taste in peace time but in here it was delicious.

This evening we took a second small cake with us to Maudie’s room and had it with more coffee she had provided (real coffee) and some nice little scones. We really could not rise to a birthday party – it really is too much of a business these days and one simply hasn’t the wherewithal to entertain people. We have tried roasting and grinding soya beans as we have all but finished our coffee and cannot afford more at MY9 per lb at the canteen (loose) or MY31 per lb (pdv£175) in a sealed tin! Soya bean coffee makes a nice drink if you don’t try to kid yourself that it tastes like real coffee.

The other cheerful thing about today is the amazingly good news one can deduce from today’s paper. Sicily must be almost in our possession and the gigantic Russian offensive is under way. Hitler and Mussolini have had a hasty meeting in N. Italy.

The Canadians have heard that arrangements have been made by the Americans to evacuate them shortly – lucky beggars! Will our turn ever come? We always seem to be the last in everything. Rumour has it we shall hear something soon. Let’s hope so.

I saw about 20 more Chinese were brought into prison today. Two of them could not stand up poor chaps.

Yvonne Ho sent me MY5 and greetings for my birthday. She really is an ace. I wish I could see her.
31 Jul 1943, John Charter's wartime journal

One more month gone: one month nearer to blessed freedom. We have had some excitement since I made my last entry. Recently our flat has, apparently been consuming too much electricity and for two or three days we had our current entirely cut off during the day so that we were unable to do any cooking. For this reason our Sunday community curry had to be postponed. On Tuesday the current was switched on for half an hour at breakfast, lunch and suppertime, so we decided we would open our community tin of corned mutton and have our deferred curry.

We were just sitting down to our meal with considerable relish, when we heard an excited voice shouting something in the courtyard. We dashed to the hall window and I saw Ward holding up a fair sized looking handbill and shouting “Resignation of Mussolini” at the top of his voice.

Forgotten was our rice and curry. I dashed down the stairs and managed to have a look at this notice, which proved to be a special edition of the HK News. It stated that King Victor Emanuel of Italy had accepted the resignation of Signor Mussolini and that Signor Badoglio had been appointed his successor, or Premier, that the Fascist army had been incorporated with the Italian Volunteers (which we understood to mean that the Fascist army, as such, no longer exists); that martial law had been proclaimed throughout Italy; that a curfew had been ordered and no one may carry arms between sun down and sun rise; and that the Italian army will still safeguard the people!!

What excitement in camp! What a tonic effect to internees! We guessed the intense excitement this news must have caused in England and though we had no church bells to ring we rang our block electric bells (which are used at meal times, curfew etc.) good and proper and there was wild cheering. People say they heard it at the hospital! So we hope our friends in the gaol heard it too. Well, there were soon wise-cracks passing round, “It’s got too hot for the ice cream,” “Poor old Musso, he didn’t ought to do so,” and there was much speculation.

Did this mean that Italy was out of the war? Would she ask for peace terms or would she try and become a non belligerent and neutral power if the British and Americans kept out of her country? According to the Jap paper, fighting still continues in Sicily. If only we could listen in to a BBC news bulletin now. At all events, we can safely assume that for all practical purposes Italy is out of the war – or soon will be.

Y and I had arranged to visit Maudie that evening, but Y had had her third wisdom tooth removed on Monday and was feeling rather under the weather. It was an impacted tooth and Shields had had to remove the one next to it as well before he could get out the offending wisdom tooth. It seemed a shame to have to do it, but I suppose it was necessary. Y’s jaw ached badly when the effect of the injection had worn off and so I introduced to her the old fashioned remedy of ‘vinegar and brown paper’. We had bought some pepper from the canteen and the vinegar I obtained from a small tin of ‘mixed ginger’ – gingered vegetables pickled in what I assumed must be some kind of vinegar. Anyway, it did the trick: this vinegar and pepper paste, spread on rough paper and gently rubbed against her cheek for a while, caused such a burning sensation that this counter-irritant drew all the pain from her jaw! Marvellous these old wives remedies. 

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