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.