203
*
463
and the Foreign Office on the subject of
direct
communication between the British
Authorities here and the Chinese
Mandarins at Kowloon.
I am much gratified at learning
that Her Majesty's Government
recognizes
the unavoidable necessity for maintaining
such communication, and I am
more
especially pleased at Your Lordship's decision that
any prohibition of non-official intercourse between subordinate officers of Government on the different sides of the frontier is wholly unnecessary. I always found such intercourse to be in the highest degree beneficial, and it is only natural that, as
elsewhere, the
informal interchange of mutual
good
offices
and local information should tend to promote a good understanding and be conducive to the public interests.
3.
At the same time Your Lordship
considers that direct communication between
the Authorities here and at Kowloon
should be maintained only
under restrictions calculated to secure its being confined
to matters of immediate urgency
and practical detail, whilst Lord Clarendon
points out that although it is desirable, as proposed, to track a fugitive
Criminal, his extradition should
be demanded through Her Majesty's Consulate
at Canton.
There being at present no
right on
the part of the Government to require the