大象传媒

I had been named in a telegram from Lord Louis Mountbatten, Supreme Commander in South East Asia to the Prince Regent of Siam " requiring him to place at the disposal of the Staff Paymaster and Financial Advisor to the Allied Land Forces in Siam -one Major Frank Ffoulkes ", the sum of 50 million bhats (ticals) each worth 4 pence in old money at the til1le.
The terms of the reparations on Siam for having joined with the Japs in declaring war upon the Allies, included the requirement to furnish accommodation and supplies to the Allied Forces in Siam plus forty million tons of rice free on board at Bangkok for export to India and Burma where rank famine was raging. The initial object of the advance party into Bangkok was to help our released paws who had been so cruelly treated, especially when working on the Bangkok- Moulmein railway. The ultimate strength of the Allied contingent in Siam amounted to about four thousand bodies compared to nearly half a million Japanese.
I myself with my staff was accommodated in a "Palace". That may sound very grand; but it should be remembered that the Siamese are polygamous. Indeed, a former King Chulalongkom had 100 wives each of whose children were entitled to be called Prince or Princess and each of whom lived in a "Palace".
My staff and 1 were protected by a Japanese Co allocated to guard us. Their efficiency and conduct were impeccable; but their capacity to conceal their feelings never ceased to amaze me. Having now lived in Bangkok for several weeks I had enjoyed a measure of hospitality from some of the wealthier Siamese who tended to regard my title and position as more significant than it really was. I decided to throw a party at my own Palace to reciprocate some of their hospitality, to which end I wished the wide lawns surrounding the Palace and containing a fair amount of "dog dirt" to be cleared up. I indicated my requirements to the Japanese Co Commander who promptly

ordered his men to do so. To my astonishment, without indication of any emotion at all the men spread out and picked up the dog dirt with their bare hands. (I think it would be difficult to find any European Troops prepared to do the same!)
One of my duties was to take possession of the fund and valuables surrendered by the Japanese to the Allied Troops who then were required to transmit these funds to me. Not infrequently, I would receive a sealed Yakdan -a square leather box -"estimated to contain five million ticals, being the funds and valuables of (say) the " Japanese 160 Light AA brigade" which on being counted amounted to some 19 million ticals. And there was no one on this earth capable of verifying in advance how much was actually there. The scope for a little light fingered exercise was thus very considerable- especially as I had sole control of all sterling -but I have been able to sleep at night with a clear conscience! Someone once had the grace to say that if I had been suspected of such action I would not have been appointed to the job in the first place!

The Siamese are not the most martial of races and appeared to co-operate readily with the Japanese; so Bangkok had never been bombed; the shops were full of silks, pearls, ivories and every sort of luxury goods.
Whilst the Siamese had joined the Japanese in declaring war on Britain they had not declared war on the United States of America; and soon after my arrival in Bangkok the Americans appeared: they set up a full scale Embassy and immediately started to take action to capture the rice trade and any other trade previously in the hands of the British;
Negotiations with the Siamese government were left in the hands of the British Consul General- a nice little chap named Dickie Bird-and myself.
The Siamese, while ostensibly friendly, were in fact deliberately a lot less helpful than they could have been in assisting us with our accommodation and other requirements. They promised readily but were very slow to act; and when Dickie Bird and I demanded quite firmly that our requests should be met immediately, the Siamese went to the American Embassy and complained of our "unreasonableness".

It so happened that at this time Lord Keynes and his colleagues were in Washington trying to hammer out terms for Marshall Aid for the UK. There must have been an exchange between Bangkok and Washington and between Washington and London; for the next we knew was that Dickie Bird from the Foreign Office and I from the Treasury were ordered to moderate our demands on the Siamese! !
I returned to England for discharge in the Spring of 1946.
I was 28 at the time.

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