01 Jun 1943, John Charter's wartime journal

Since writing about the bracelet, Y has sold her lovely Chinese brocade housecoat for MY30 for the purpose of buying me as many tins of bully beef as possible from the canteen. Maudie says she has written to Capt. Min to ask him to send me Y20 per month if possible, which is most awfully kind of her. So it looks as though I should manage to survive if all these things materialise.

When we hurriedly left our flat in January 1942, we sent over a trunk full of our silver to the French Consulate in the hope that Devaux would be able to look after it for us. Now that Y will be leaving HK we want to write and ask him to send it in here (through the Japanese Civil Administration) so that Y can take it with her. The snag is that, apart from the risk of having the contents tampered with in transit, we may be instrumental in getting Devaux into trouble. 

Some time ago apparently, third nationals were ordered to report to the Japanese if they were looking after any property belonging to internees, and we do not know if Devaux reported our things or not. If he has not and we send him a card asking for them, it may get him into trouble. If we leave our things with him, there is always the chance of losing everything during the second spate of looting that will probably ensue during the transition period when HK returns from Japanese to British or American occupation. It would help a lot if Devaux would send a guarded message of advice.