585
No. 35
99.
HONGKONG.
FURTHER PAPERS RELATING TO THE MILITARY OPERATIONS IN CONNEC-
TION WITH THE DISTURBANCES ON THE TAKING OVER
OF THE NEW TERRITORY.
Laid before the Legislative Council by Command of His Excellency the Governor.
SIR,
(From General Officer Commanding in China and Hongkong
to His Excellency the Governor of Hongkong.)
HONGKONG, 20th April, 1899.
I have the honour to inform Your Excellency that, having found that the troops encamped at Táipó Hi were amply sufficient to cope with the troubles in that neighbourhood, and the surrounding District, and having received reliable information that large bodies of armed rebels were gathering in the neighbourhood of Castle Penk, I hurried back to Hongkong on Monday, the 17th instant, in order to make arrangements to send a small Force to operate in the neighbourhood of Deep Bay. My idea was to clear that District either by surrounding the rebels and force them to lay down their arms, or, should they escape me, turn them in the direction of Kam Tin Hü where the column of troops from the West could operate with effect against them. I accordingly, with the able and hearty co-operation of the Commodore, landed a small and mobile force at daybreak at Ngau-hom in Deep Bay. The difficulties of carrying out this landing in the darkness and in the exceedingly shallow waters of Deep Bay were very great indeed, and I do not hesitate to say that it would have been impossible to carry out without the experienced assistance of Lieutenant GOODENOUGH, R.N. All the arrangements were most carefully planned out and considered beforehand by Captain LONG, my Chief Staff Officer for the time being, and the consequence was that everything worked out without a hitch of any kind and I was enabled to carry out a landing of quite unusual difficulty. The column swept right through the populous valley from Ngau-hom to Castle Peak Bay. The whole District was almost completely deserted. The inhabitants had either fled at our approach or had in some cases moved off the previous day to the neighbourhood of Kam Tin Hü. This was exactly what I had anticipated, and I had sent a Force to Tai Lam Chung to operate up that valley to the North to intercept any bodies of armed rebels who might appear, and endeavour to make their escape eastwards from Castle Peak Valley. The whole of these somewhat complicated arrangements came off successfully and I am happy to say that I am enabled to report that this entire District is absolutely cleared of rebels and that without the necessity for my firing a single shot. On my way back I dropped a small Force under cominand of Major MORRIS, R.A., at Tsin Wan with orders to proceed at once to Kam Tin Hü to join hands with a Force from the East to whom I had previously sent orders to that effect. I learn from rumour, not yet perhaps completely authenticated, but yet sufficiently so to relieve any anxiety, that these combinations have been successful and that the armed rebels have been intercepted by some of the parties sent out by my orders.
As regards the Forces operating in the East, I will report fully as soon as I have received detailed information.
I have the honour to be,
Sir,
Your Excellency's obedient Servaut,
W. J. GASCOIGNE,
Major-General,
Commanding in China & Hongkong.