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tely north of Kowloon city. But in the absence of such complications the valley north of Sham-Chun offers an admirable camping ground and would probably, if used, increase the practical strength of the garrison by a considerable number who are in hospital in Hong Kong from venereal diseases. In Hong Kong the men must suffer from want of exercise and confinement, for they have to go two miles at least to a recreation ground.
The consequence is a temptation to licentious habits and a serious weakening of the garrison by disease.
8. Should the boundary be extended it will necessitate an increase of at least 50 police beyond the number estimated for.
9. In considering the question of the boundary it is well to remember the exigencies of the Chinese Imperial Customs. If the line be taken from the point west of Sha-tao round the summits of the hills I think it would give the Customs officials as defensible a line as the river, for the passes are not many while the intervening heights are most difficult to climb. At present, in consequence of the refusal of the Viceroy of Canton to authorise the Imperial Customs to remove their stations, the entire distance from Nam-tao to the west of Mirs Bay is unprotected and there must be a large amount of smuggling going on.
5
I have the honour to be,
Sir,
Your Most Obedient Humble Servant,
Henry Arthur Blake
GOVERNOR &c.
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is kept as is for now, assuming it is part of the original text, though its meaning is unclear. The rest of the corrections follow the guidelines: "HongKong" is corrected to "Hong Kong", "want of" is added to make the sentence complete, "refusal of the Viceroy of Canton toauthorise" is corrected to "refusal of the Viceroy of Canton to authorise", and "Namtao" is corrected to "Nam-tao". The formatting is done using HTML as per the instructions. The original page numbering is preserved.