No. 261.
No. 66 of
1899.
No. 61 of 19th Feb., 1900.
SIR,
348
(Governor Sir Henry A. Blake to Secretary of State for the Colonies.j
GOVERNMENT HOUSE, HONGKONG, 21st May, 1903.
I have the honour to forward for your information a report on the New Terri- tory, for the year 1902.
2. The reports forwarded with my previous despatches mentioned in the margin 17th March, will have shown the steps taken from the hoisting of the British flag at Taipo on the 16th April, 1899. It will be remembered that on the taking over of the New Territory we found a population roused to a spirit of active antagonism by lying reports carefully disseminated apparently with the concurrence of the Chinese 12th August, Authorities. The attacks made upon our troops were easily defeated, and active hostilities ceased after two engagements, to be succeeded by a period of distrust, happily not of long duration.
No. 314 of
1901.
3. The district of San On, North of Kowloon Peninsula, leased to Great Britain under the Convention of 1898, has not enjoyed a good reputation. Armed robbery on shore and piracy in the surrounding waters were too common to excite comment locally, powerful clans levied tribute from outlying cultivators, and settled their differences with rival clans by a ready appeal to force without the intervention of any Chinese Official Might was right, and during the journey through the district of (Mr. LOCKHART, then Colonial Secretary, after the suppression of the outbreak, the small villages expressed a hope that they would be protected against the bullying to which they were subjected by the larger villages,
4. The first thing to be done was to ensure peace and to generate as far as pos- sible among the inhabitants a feeling of personal security. Military posts were established on the frontier and commanding positions, and Military and Police co-operated in a system of patrols. The location of permanent Police Stations was determined, each Station being connected with Hongkong by telephone, and the division of New Territory into districts undertaken. The Territory was divided into eight districts, which were subdivided into forty-seven sub-districts, the village elders, who were the natural leaders of the people, being appointed district elders with judicial power to deal with petty cases in their several districts.
J
5. At the same time Mr. LOCKHART was given a general controlling power over these district courts with co-ordinate jurisdiction. I was under the impression that these powers would have been appreciated by the elders and that the Courts would have been resorted to: but as a matter of fact the elders displayed no anxiety to take the duties upon themselves, and from the beginning the community showed perfect confidence in Mr. LOCKHART, and subsequently in Mr. HALLIFAX, who is now acting as Police Magistrate in the New Territory, but whose practical work is more often that of an Arbitrator, whose decision is accepted without demur.
6. Taipo Hu, a small market town at the head of Tolo harbour in Mirs Bay, was selected as the most suitable position for headquarters, situated as it is in almost the centre of the Territory, and this position has now been connected with Kowloon Peninsula by an excellent road, with easy gradients, 18 miles in length, upon the construction of which $225,133 have been expended. This road obviates the necessity of communicating with Taipo Hu by sea, a sometimes rough and dangerous passage. I am considering the possibility of arranging for the further extension of roads in the New Territory by local co-operation and without expense to the general revenue.
The Right Honourable
JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN, M.P.,
&C..
&C.,
&c.