I have informed Sir W. Robinson that it will be necessary for the Civil and Military Authorities of the town of Kowloon to keep up good understanding with the Officers who command it. His Excellency is evidently familiar with the present disordered state of the town.
I think, as I am sure he is, that in the presence there of a foreign force on friendly terms with their local Mandarins, an opportunity may be turned to account in checking those acts of outlawry and village fights that are now constantly occurring there without any attempt to suppress them being made by the Chinese Authorities.
I also sounded His Excellency as to the disposition of the Chinese Government to cede the site of Kowloon to the English as an equivalent for a portion of the indemnity, and I could see that His Excellency's views of the matter were such that there is so little objection to the step, and so great a value at present, as estimated on the spot by the Chinese Authorities, that he would readily approve of such a transfer for a moderate consideration.
He himself, however, as is of course known, has not the necessary powers for negotiating a cession, but he told me that he was willing either to apply to his Government for them, or to advise the Secretary of State, whenever any proposal of the kind might be made to him by Her Britannic Majesty's Plenipotentiary.