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the people to be of good behaviour and stating that the area
had been leased to Great Britain by the Emperor of China.
Thus the entire responsibility for the peace and good order
of the leased area was undertaken by the Viceroy, as I was determined not to send any armed men into the territory until
I was about to take possession.
7. On the evening of the 1st April, Mr. May returned and reported to me that the contractor's men had stopped work and come away, so he had left two Indian police and two Chinese in charge of the sheds in course of erection, and the materials. I disapproved of leaving any armed men in Chinese territory and directed him to withdraw them. He said that he had promised the villagers to return, and would go in himself and withdraw them, feeling that possibly an explanation with the people when their tempers had time to cool would settle matters without further trouble.
8. Accordingly, early on Monday morning, the 3rd instant, he proceeded to Taipohu, calling at Kowloon en route and taking with him five Chinese soldiers to whom, under the instructions of the Viceroy, was to be handed over the protection of the matshed and the workmen. Additional soldiers were to be sent on as soon as they had arrived from Canton. Mr. May took with him six unarmed Sikh police, merely as a formal escort as is usual in China. At 12 midnight, I received a pencilled note in Mr. May's pocket book, brought by one of the Chinese who had been left at the matshed, in which he said