C.O. 483 COPY No.17 10557 RECO Rcet 27 JUN 19
The Humble petition of Mak Nung Mau, Ma On Ki, elders, and Ma Pui Un graduate by purchase of the Hop Wo Division sheweth:-
That your petitioners yield submission with feeling of real pleasure and are deeply indebted for having been rescued from great danger. Your petitioners have long revered the power and humanity of Great Britain and when they heard of the Convention extending the boundaries of Hongkong they were all delighted, and although false reports were spread in order to incite the people they never changed their views.
When rowdies from other places collected in crowds to resist the Petitioners willfully yielded submission and not only did not join in their plots but pointed out to them their crime. Consequently on the 6th of the 3rd moon (15th April) when the rowdies collected in large numbers, like a swarm of bees, they said they would first destroy all the villages in our Division before offering resistance to the Imperial troops.
Fortunately the troops happened to arrive on that very day and drove back the rowdies which saved the villages in our Division from harm. If they had arrived a day later all the villages in our Division would have suffered cruelly at the hands of the rowdies and their misery would have been beyond all description.
Having been mercifully rescued from such great peril they have as it were been given a second life. Your petitioners having been empowered to convey the heartfelt thanks of their fellow villagers for the kindness bestowed upon them humbly approach your tribunal to express their gratitude and to pray that protection may be mercifully continued to them so that the villagers in their Division may for generations to come obey the laws of Great Britain.
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