HISTO AL BACKGROUND
I
HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL BOUNDARY
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1. The present boundaries of Hong Kong were agreed between Claude M McDonald and a Chinese plenipotentiary in Peking on the 9th June 1898 and ratified in London on the 6th August 1998. This convention (1) published as a Treaty series states that the "Limits of British Territory shall be enlarged to the extent indicated generally on the annexed 'map" and that "exact boundaries should be hereafter fixed when proper surveys have been made".
2. The original map attached to the convention should be located (in the PRO?). Two versions of the map are known. IDWO 1376 (2) at 1" 4.96 miles was lithographed at the War Office in November 1898. PRO Hong Kong hold a version heliozincographed at the OS (this map has not yet been inspected and may be held in other libraries).
3. .
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The extended boundaries of the Colony were further delimited in March 1899 in a a series of meetings between Mr Stewart Lockhart, Colonial Secretary in Hong Kong,
Particular attention was and Mr Wong Tsun Shin, delegated by the. Viceroy of Canton. paid to the land boundary shown as a straight line on the map attached to the convention. On the Hong Kong side efforts were made to extend the boundary northwards to include the whole of Sham Chun and Sha Tau Kok und even to the first line of hills beyond. Some people in Hong Kong ware lobbying for a,boundary as far north so the East River.
4. A memorandum (3) was signed by both parties on the 19th March 1899 describing the boundaries in some detail. A sketch map prepared by Mr Ormsby, Director of Public Works, accompanied, the memorandum. (The original of this sketch map should be located in PRO London).
5. IDWO 1427 (4) at 7" to 1 mile is a version of this sketch map lithographed at the Int Div. of the War Office in July 1899 and is interesting as the first map which omits the portion of the boundary to the north of Mirs and Deep Bays.
6. The memorandum refers to six pegs driven in on the 18th March 1899 by Lockhart and Wong Tsun Shin and describes the boundary between these pegs.
7.
The memorandum describes the remainder of the land boundary as the north bank of the Sham Chun river. It describes the north boundary in Mirs Bay as following the high water mark but that in Deep Bay only in the sentence "the waters of Mirs and Deep Bay are included". The memorandum does not state that the boundary in Deep Bay follows the high water mark.
8.
Elsewhere the memorandum refers to the convention and its attached map but adds that the "whole of the Island of Lantau is included in British Territory".
BOUNDARY DEMARCATION
9. Sometime after March 1899 a series of twenty boundary pillars were erected along the eastern land boundary. It is not known at present when this was done or by whom it was done. It was probably carried out by Survey of India personel seconded to the Colony in 1899 to carry out cadastral and topographic surveys of the newly acquired territory. It may have been done by RE, FWD or Lands department, Registrar Generals office personel.
10. Until further searches locate the original records the evidence for the Joint Anglo Chinese? boundary Survey/marking is limited to the following. Series 10A (5) Ch 360A by GP Tate, Survey of India in 1899-1901 refers to boundary stones 9 and 14. Series 9A Ch 350 A & C by Capts Turner and Johnston RE in 1910 is said to be an extension north of the "Anglo Chinese" boundary survey. The unlisted work of Lt Caulfield RE in 1902 held at Ch 360 A & B has some points common with Tate and may prove relevant with further examination. The unlisted survey in 1902 of Mirs Day by HMS Waterwitch Ch 320 B, Ch 365 C may also be relevant.
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