E.C.A. staff meeting at 8:15 am. Wrote memorandum to Secretary of Finance recommending change in relationship between Commissioner of Customs and Collector of Port of Manila. To Finance office to buy Military Scrip (same as we
used in Japan), then to PX to buy tobacco and toilet articles, then to National City Bank to cash a check into pesos. Manila is an extremely expensive city to live in. I must, of course, use the official exchange rate (2 to 1) while the black market rate is 4 to 1. Lunch with C.P. Chen, Chinese Ambassador, at New Europe Restaurant. Ambassador worried because a Representative has filed a bill in the House which would drive every Chinese retailer in the Philippines out of business in the years. He said that the he had been a member of the Kuomintang over twenty years, but that
the Kuomintang was chiefly responsible for the disasters which have befallen China. To Custom House. Had a chat with Fabros, the collector of the Port. To cocktail party at Chapin’s (Counsellor of Embassy) to meet Bishop Lane (?). Maryknoll Mission, and
several other priests. Back to hotel, and then off to dinner at the UNO Club, given by Albino Sycip to the E.C.A. top staff. Four tables, one of which was all women; other three all men. Met a lot of Chinese. Bonnie Liu Sycip and Alexander were there.
Lester Knox Little
(March 20, 1892 — October 27, 1981). The last foreign, and only American, Inspector General of the Chinese Maritime Customs Service. His period of service straddled the Republic of China on the mainland and its subsequent flight and reestablishment on the island of Taiwan.
All Posts