On 17 January 1940 and in the beginning of 1941, Pollock was appointed unofficial member of the Legislative and the Executive Council respectively for a further period of four years and five years. However, in December 1941, the Pacific War broke out suddenly and Hong Kong fell into Imperial Japan's hands after a month of resistance. Fortunately, Pollock and his wife were in Australia for health reason at the outbreak of the war, thus they were not in Hong Kong during the Japanese invasion and did not end up in Hong Kong as prisoners of war.