2:1
of the garrison,
Casual
way
and now I learn only in a
-
that a large part of that
-
Regiment is camped
on the Kowloon shore
and
instead of in quarters at Hongkong, certainly my Express sanction, though necessary, has never been obtained, for
it has never been asked.
I have hitherto been content to pass over in silence what might be deemed to be mere breaches of official courtesy
in the belief that no real discourtesy was intended, and that the inadvertence complained of
was caused by the pressure of the important business which has occupied Your Excellency's time, but what I now have to deal with is the
unauthorized
and ever
defiant appropriation
of Crown Land by the Commanding Royal Engineer on the Kowloon peninsula. As it is sought to justify this encroachment on authority, and as I see in other matters a determined disposition to set aside the civil power and jurisdiction, I should be wanting in my duty to my superiors
over which I rule,
to myself, and to the Colony,
if I did not now make a firm Expostulation
&
against the mode in which matters have for some time been conducted by the military Authorities here.
As regards Mr May, I am not aware what were the actual measures adopted by him for carrying out his Instructions, but if he has exceeded them he is liable to Correction. The order however for