SINGAPORE CONVOY

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 59, 7 September 1945, Page 7

SINGAPORE CONVOY

SUPPLIES AND MEDICAL AID (3y Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright.) Eec. 9.50 a.m. LONDON, Sept. 6. Twenty-four ships flying the "Red Duster" formed an impressive sight in the convoy which brought the occupying force, said the Exchange Telegraph agency's Singapore correspondent. Of these, eight ships carried personnel, six nearly 800 vehicles, and two stores totalling 10,300 tons, including rice, engineering, ordnance, and medical supplies. The convoy also carried 80 to 120 doctors and nurses. Two ships of the convoy were provisionally detailed to t3ke released prisoners to India on the way to Australia, but the Australian Government may make separate arrangements. Six ships have been marked down for the repatriation of prisoners to the United Kingdom. The correspondent adds that the first phase of the occupation will take three days. Lady Louis Mountbatten arrived by air today to take charge of the British Red Cross. The convoy anchored in Keppel Harbour and carries large stocks of nourishing food and clothes for prisoners of war. The next convoy will bring military bands and mobile cinemas to entertain prisoners who will have to remain for treatment. Sixty-one Super-Fortresses dropped supplies today for 25 prison camps around Tokio, Osaka, Hiroshima, and Nagoya. Tpkio newspapers disclosed that Koreans revolved in. the middle of August, seized part of the Seoul Government, displayed signs urging independence and welcoming the approaching Russians, and waved longhidden Korean flags. The newspapers also reported the release of 20,000 political prisoners in Korea. Dr. Kagawa, the JaprJ.ese Christian leader, who is reported to be one of Prince Higashi-Kuni's five civilian political advisers, said in an interview that Japanese labour unions had begun organising. He predicted that struggles by the workers against the industrialists for better living conditions would be one of the greatest underlying difficulties in reconstructive added that there were still 300,000 Protestants and 200,000 Catholics m Japan. He said he resigned as Christian Minister in 1940 because of police pressure. ~ ~ , ~ The Domei news agency said that the Japanese who buy goods from American soldiers or exchange goods with them are liable to the death penalty or 20 years' imprisonment.