From the South China Morning Post this week in: 1949 This week's big story was a visit by Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek to the Philippines to meet President Elpidio Quirino. The reports make it clear that the Nationalists had by then given up hope of winning the civil war against the communists, even though they still controlled parts of the mainland, particularly in the south. Reports on Chiang's mission to the Philippines were all attributed to the Manila press or nameless Nationalist sources, for example: 'Informed sources expected Chiang to arrive at the Northern Luzon mountain resort [of Baguio]', where indeed the meeting did take place. 'It was considered mostly likely they [Chiang and Quirino] would discuss ways and means of placing a barrier before communism to keep it from swallowing up the whole of the Far East.' This could be achieved, Quirino hoped, by establishing a 'Pacific Union' as a bulwark 'against the threat of Red Imperialism'. Another topic for discussion was the 'possibility of a home in exile for Chiang', even though the Nationalist leader had, by then, found refuge in Taiwan. 'Cock fighting has finally become legal in Manila. For as long as any person can remember, cock fighting has been the national sport in the Philippines. It draws bigger crowds than any other sport. But until a new charter was enacted recently, cock fights long had been taboo within the city limits.' Nevertheless, President Quirino cautioned Manila city authorities to use restraint in issuing licences for cock pits. In Hong Kong, a waitress fired from a hotel because she objected to being 'pawed' by a customer won her job back and HK$200 in compensation. Described as 'a pretty 23-year-old', Lo Ying had been dismissed by the management of the Tai Tung Hotel 'for incurring the displeasure of a customer' the previous week. The magistrate, Mr d'Almada, also fined the customer, 30-year-old Ho Kam-nam, HK$50 for the assault, ordered him to pay Ms Lo's compensation and 'warned him to behave in future'. Ho 'had used his hands to insult her while playing cards at the Tai Tung Hotel', the court heard. Ms Lo had pushed Ho away, 'causing him to upset a table and some glasses. He then kicked her.' Ho's lawyer, J.C. Stewart, said his client 'realised it was wrong and was very sorry indeed'. The report did not record any regrets from the hotel management, which Mr Stewart said was nevertheless willing to reinstate Ms Lo. The Dutch Reformed Church of South Africa called on the country's government to withhold recognition of Seretse Khama as the paramount chief of the Bamangwato tribe in neighbouring Bechuanaland [now Botswana]. A church conference had adopted a resolution that 'Seretse's marriage to Ruth Williams, a 24-year-old former London typist, might have serious repercussions on race relations in South Africa'. The marriage in London was an example of 'the doctrine of equality and assimilation between white and non-white people calculated to destroy race purity and promote the downfall of Christian civilisation in South Africa', the church said. The marriage also offended some blacks, including Khama's uncle Tshekedi Khama, 'regent of the Bamangwato tribe since 1926'. While trying to land in heavy rain at Bombay's Santa Cruz airport, a four-engined Royal Dutch Airline aircraft crashed, killing 45 people on board, including 13 American journalists. The journalists had been the guests of the Dutch government in Indonesia for the past month, to report on negotiations between the colonial government and republicans on Indonesia's independence. India barred the Dutch airline from flying over its territory, because it disapproved of the Netherlands' 'police action' against the Indonesian republicans, but waived its ban to allow the American journalists to interview the Indian prime minister, Pandit Nehru, on their way back to Amsterdam. Two journalists survived because they had refused to board the plane. Dorothy Brandon, of the New York Herald Tribune, made her own way home, stopping off in Hong Kong. Before the doomed flight left Batavia [now Jakarta], she had expressed the fear that the plane 'would be sabotaged as sure as your life' because 'most of the newsmen had been impressed by the Dutch side of the Indonesian question'.