Staff conference 9 to 10.
馬傑 came to talk about Honan. 劉廣沛 came to talk about Manchuria. Received from C. T. Tung 【董承道] a confidential message, saying that O. S. Lieu 【劉鴻生] is too busy with other affairs to attend to the work of the regional office, and advising me to appoint a strong man to be deputy director. Am grateful to C. T. for the suggestion. 張伯懷 came to talk about his Border Mission, particularly about the Yunnan-Burma border. It so happens that I received a wire from 李根源 calling my attention to the two districts of 龍陵 and 騰衝, an area of see-saw warfare, with considerable destruction. The idea occurred to me that CNRRA 【行政院善後救濟總署] might make use of his mission. Made proposition to him and he accepted.
Drafted a dispatch to C. 【蔣中正], suggesting that he make an appeal for American aid in the rehabilitation of institutions of higher learning.
徐道鄰 came to supper. He told me that the army’s demands for next year are enormous, and that at this rate, the budget for next year will go up to 2,600 billion. He also said that C. is full of new ideas: land for the disbanded army, cadastral survey, new railways, etc.
Borrowed Gibbon’s Decline and Fall, from the Sino-British Cultural Association’s library: hoped to make it my winter’s reading.