CONDITIONS IN HONG KONG

Press, Volume LXXXI, Issue 24749, 14 December 1945, Page 8

CONDITIONS IN HONG KONG

* LITTLE DAMAGE DONE TO BUSINESS AREA

Conditions in Hong Kong at present were described by the Rev. Herbert Davies, Moderator-Designate of the Presbyterian Church in New Zealand. In an interview with “The Press.” Mr Davies, who recently returned to New Zealand from China, where he had worked for 36 years, said that some of the younger Chinese, mostly students, felt aggrieved that the British had reoccupied Hong Kong. They expected it to be given to the Chinese. However, responsible Chinese had welcomed the British, and things were becoming more orderly there. The Hong Kong-Shanghai Bank had reopened, and was .opening new accounts —the old ones had not yet been “dc-frozeu.” Chinese with business interests, in the port had been allowed to return, and life was picking up. Mr Davies said he thought that Hong Kong would be one of the first Far Eastern ports to regain prosperity. The business .-section of the town had been damaged very little during the war, he said. The residential section on The Peak, however, had been seriously damaged, and many of tlie fine houses were now merely .shells. During the Japanese advance on Hong Kong, bandits had taken the opportunity of looting and spoiling, and Had taken awav all the wood from the houses—firewood had been very hard to obtain. The bandits had swarmed everywhere and had left ruin behind them.