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course accordingly At any rate I think the inhabitants of Sai Kung should be called upon to produce the culprit who made such insulting remarks and failing such production they could have extra police stationed in their town until their behaviour improve.
I have been making inquiries here with regard to the Land Company, but the chief shareholders live in Hong-Kong and can give full information regarding its dealings. I would suggest that the Registrar General send for Mr Li Shing who is the Chairman of the Coy and the largest shareholder, and question him. So far as I can ascertain no purchases of land have been made by the Company since the date of the Convention. The Company was started some years ago, when there was a talk of making a railway between Kowloon and Canton. The land bought was, I believe, purchased at prices considerably in advance of the market rate as it was anticipated that the railway scheme would ultimately enhance the value of land. The Scheme however fell through. I do not believe for a moment that the people were frightened into selling their land. No complaint has ever reached me or been made to the Chinese Government regarding such sales, which have been effected in many cases long before it was known that the territory was to be leased to Great Britain. It appears to me that the real fact of the case is that those who resisted the British are hunting about for an excuse to lessen the gravity of their offence. They commence by saying that the leasing of the territory was false and that the Empress Dowager had ordered resistance. They then carried their story further by declaring the leasing of the territory was not really known to the Hong Kong authorities, but was the work of a few adventurers. Now they are trying...
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