Slice of Life
From the South China Morning Post this week in: 1964
A third petition appealing that Lai Chung-hing, who had been sentenced to death for killing his wife, be 'spared from the gallows' was submitted to the governor, Sir David Trench, on November 26. The Hong Kong and Kowloon Tenants Association submitted the petition, which said Lai was still a minor in law. The appeal pointed out that Lai had an infant daughter, aged one, and 'it would be most tragic to deprive this innocent young child of the father, when she has already lost her mother.
'He cared for his wife, but being a juvenile and with little education and not mature enough to understand how to solve a matrimonial problem, caused the loss of his wife in a moment of anger, which was not premeditated,' the petition said. Lai had been against his wife becoming a dance hostess.
The petition said that according to Lai's mother, he was born on October 9, 1946, and so at the time of the crime, was under 18.
South Vietnam declared a state of siege on November 26 following days of anti-government riots and demonstrations. About 1,000 heavily armed troops surrounded the National Buddhist headquarters to prevent further unrest and patrols of police and troops enforced a 10pm curfew.
The state of siege added even tougher restrictions to the state of emergency imposed only a day earlier. A state of siege was announced at 11pm and came into effect at midnight. Prime Minister Tran Van Huong broadcast a statement alleging Viet Cong involvement in recent protests.
The High National Council was in session for the first time since opposition to the government erupted into violence five days earlier. Mr Tran indicated he had no intention of resigning or reshuffling his government.
In Washington, 30,000 people, shivering with cold but warm in remembrance, climbed the long slopes of the Arlington National Cemetery on November 22 to the eternal flame that burns above President Kennedy's grave. Some wept. Some knelt. Some touched rosaries. Some pushed the wheelchairs of the aged, others trundled baby carriages, bearing infants who were not born when, a year earlier, the young president was assassinated.
The first tribute of the anniversary was an armful of wild flowers from the sandy soil of the president's beloved home at Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. They were sent by his widow, Mrs Jacqueline Kennedy, who is in seclusion with her children in New York. Mrs Kennedy's mother, Mrs Hugh Auchincloss, laid the wildflowers at the foot of the grave. An hour later the daughters of President Lyndon B. Johnson laid a long-stemmed yellow rose on either side.
A 13-year-old schoolboy in London was given a special private showing of an 'X' certificate film, the rating which forbids any person under 16 from watching a movie. Philip Hopkins sat alone in a cinema at a showing of Lord of the Flies - the story of castaway English schoolboys who become bloodthirsty savages. Philip got special permission from the censors because he is to play the part of 'Piggy' - one of the star roles - in his school play next term.
More than 600 fishermen and their dependents from about 80 families, living in dilapidated sheds on the shores of Tap Mun Island, would soon be rehoused in a new settlement project made possible through the generosity of the New Zealand people. New Zealanders donated more than $500,000 for the red brick structures that will soon be ready on a site on the island on the fringes of Hongkong territorial waters. Mr J. Cater, Commissioner for Co-operative Development and Fisheries, thanked New Zealanders: 'We see today the first outward and visible signs both of the dream of the fishermen and the generosity of the people of New Zealand.'
