From the General Offices Commanding in China To His Excellency the Governor, Hong Kong
Your Excellency
Head Quarters,
Hong Kong, 16 January 1897.
I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt
of Your Excellency's letter No. 24 of 25th December 1896
on the subject of lands at Kowloon.
In reply, I beg to inform Your Excellency that I am unable to find in any of the previous correspondence
on the subject any precise statement or definition of the position of lands held as "Military Reserve". Before, therefore, I reply to the War Office on the subject, I beg to request that Your Excellency will put on record the view of the Government of the Colony as to the general position of such lands, and as to the reasons
why,
I gather from Your Excellency's letter above quoted