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Consistently with this, give you any instructions to meet Sir R.S. MacDonnell's wishes in this matter and move straight
Tice Ptry to recognize a right
on the part of the Colonial authorities to enter into direct Communication with the Chinese officials on the Kowloon side of the harbour or elsewhere".
"Apart from the practical inconveniences only likely to arise, and the mischief of establishing a bad precedent, in violation of a clear principle of International Law, I think there is sufficient evidence
in the general tone and tenor of the Colonial Secretary's official letter to you to show that there is no security for the discretion with which any power of the kind desired would be exercised.
While questioning the absence of the power sought, even after His Grace's despatch on the subject, I observe you are informed that "whatever might be the formal regulations, His Excellency, in the event of any special public emergency, would not hesitate to fit them on one side". It is true he adds "if the case and common sense required it, but,
NDE