TRANSPORT PROBLEM

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 80, 11 September 1945, Page 5

TRANSPORT PROBLEM

REMOVAL OF RELEASED PRISONERS GREAT DIFFICULTY EXPERIENCED HAPPY CROWDS IN SINGAPORE (Official War Correspondent with the R.N.Z.N. Singapore, Sept., 8The greatest difficulty facing the military authorities is transport. So acute is the shortage that it is possible that ships brought specially for prisoners of war may have to move away without taking prisoners who are released from military and civil gaols. This shortage is caused in part by the illegal acquisition by the Chinese ol transport which they are using for touring the city and even for penetrating far into the country. The military are at present stopping and examining the credentials of all such drivers and if the right to a vehicle cannot be established it will be brought into the general pool. The first of the hospital ships is due to leave with prisoners of war tomorrow. A transport with prisoners of war is also due to leave to-morrQW, but on account of the shortage of stores and water as a result of the transport difficulty she may be forced to leave without taking the full quota of prisoners of war.

The clearance of Singapore City is now complete and civil police are able to function without the slightest difficulty. In fact the city is as orderly as the days before the occupation and looks perfectly normal except that there is no public transport. Happy crowds throng the streets and the British are still cheered when they appear outside the main shopping and business area. Shops and offices are again opening and appear to have good quantities of goods, particularly fruit and vegetables, to sell.

There is still some looting in the town but the civil police, backed by the troops, are easily able to suppress this and arrest the looters. Troops merely have to appear with arms slung on their shoulders to assure immediate obedience to the orders of civil police. The whole of Singapore Island is now under British control, except for areas in the east and west where the Japanese are concentrating under their own authorities. When this process is complete they will be disarmed and marched to an internment area which has been established on the mainland to the west of Johore Bahru. STEADY FLOW TO THE NORTH In the meantime the steady flow of Japanese north along the main roads towards and over the causeway has been stopped. Transport.is needed for other work and roads are becoming closed with large detachments of “Sons of Heaven” trekking quietly along. The whole movement of Japanese troops has been extremely orderly without incident. except for complaints of some Japanese about being made to build their own camps which are of palm thatch. The complaint was met with a peremptory order from General Manswegh that the Japanese would obey instructions and like it.

The position is considered secure enough now to open all roads on Singapore Island to ordinary civilian traffic.

Though the Japanese appear to have organised their own evacuation down to the smallest, detail and to be carry ing out instructions scrupulously, there is no disposition among the military authorities to trust them too far. A slight hitch occurred when the Japanese naval authorities refused to hand over the dockyard under orders from Japanese military authorities. They said they were not under military orders: but a British naval party headed by Admiral Sir John Power. Com-mander-in-Chief of the British East Indian Navy received the surrender of the dockyard without incident. No assessment is yet possible of the condition of this great British eastern naval base, but a cursory examination appears to show that it is in excellent order.

CABLES AND WIRELESS BUSY London, Sept. 10 Cables and Wireless in the past 24 hours have received over 2000 messages from released prisoners of war and internees in the Far East, making the total so far 6000. Relatives sent back more than 1400 replies.