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bility. I have requested the Commodore to get steam on the Torpedo Destroyers which will be the quickest means of getting there, and it is well to have a good show of force. But have a prudent Officer in Command, remembering that at present we are practically trespassing.
Sincerely Yours,
H. A. BLAKE.
SIR,
ENCLOSURE NO. 4 IN. GOVERNOR'S DESPATCH OF THE 7TH APRIL, 1899.
(Report by Captain Superintendent of Police to Governor.)
POLICE OFFICE, 4th April, 1899.
I have the bonour to report that yesterday morning I proceeded to Tái pó við Kowloon City and Sha Tin where I hired a small junk and sailed to Tái pó, with an escort of 4 Sikh policemen, 5 Chinese soldiers from Kowloon City, and a Chinese interpreter. My object was to inspect the matshed under construction at Tái pó for the temporary accommodation of Police, to withdraw the Police guard, and exchange it for the Chinese soldiers, 5 more of whom were to follow the next day, and to interview the village elders regarding the site of the matshed.
I arrived at Tái pó at 3 p.in. and proceeded to the temple where the elders hold their meetings, and was met by them there.
The temple, in spite of the endeavours of Police and soldiers to the contrary, soon became filled with a noisy and turbulent crowd, so that it was almost impossible to hear oneself speaking. I gathered from the elders that they objected to the erection of the matshed on the ground that it would spoil the Fung Shui of the neighbourhood.
I pointed out to them that at first the inhabitants of Tái pó had not objected at all to the erection of the matshed, and that, in deference to the wishes of the neighbouring village of Pan Chung-the nearest village to the hillock on which the matshed is built,--the site of the shed has been changed from that originally selected by me to one which the elders of Pan Ch'ung had themselves approved and marked out in my presence.
One of the elders then said that the hill was his private property- he being the third party that has now claimed the hill- and I told him, as I have told the other claimants, that if he could produce an official title deed of the hillock the Hongkong Government would purchase the property from him. He remarked that as it had been handed down to him by his ancestors he could not possibly consent to sell it.
After some further discussion, which was continually interrupted by the bystanders (some of whom became very offensive in their language and demeanour), the elders asked if I would remove the matshed to another site or not, to which I replied that the site it now stood on having been chosen by the representatives of the village nearest to it and declared free from objection on the ground of interference with Fung Shui, it would not be reasonable to again change it. I added that Government would pay the rightful owner for the property.
Thereupon most of the elders left the temple and I managed to induce most of the crowd to do the same. Some, however, refused to move, and presently a man from outside rushed in and hurled a brick on the pavement of the temple yard so that it broke into pieces. Then another came in and called on the bystanders to arrest my Chinese interpreter for being a traitor to his country in endeavouring to assist the foreigners in obtaining possession of it. After a little time the people seemed to have become more quiet, and I judged it expedient to try and get away from the village. Myself, the Sikh Police, and the Chinese who were with me stepped out of the temple into the street in a body and proceeded leisurely to the village. Thereupon a man in the crowd struck the interpreter a violent blow with his fist on the back, and another seized him by the queue and endeavoured to drag him from my party.
This a Sikh constable prevented, whereupon a brick was thrown from the crowd which struck him on the head. Bricks were now showered upon us by the crowd from a pile that unfortunately lay in the street, and nearly all of my party were