[This Document is the Property of Her Britannic Majesty's Government.]
# AFFAIRS OF CHINA
CONFIDENTIAL
15673
RECD [June 19]
JUN 39
SECTION 1
My Lord,
IN continuation of my despatch No. 93 of the 15th instant, I have the honour to report that on the 11th instant, a telegram arrived from the Governor of Hong Kong informing me that he had received a copy of a despatch from the Canton Viceroy to the Consul at Canton desiring the Consul to inform Sir H. Blake that he, the Viceroy, would not hand over the new territory on the 17th, because the Customs must be removed. This I took to mean that the Viceroy objected strongly to the removal of the Customs.
Sir Henry Blake asked me to have immediate instructions sent to the Viceroy to hand over on the date arranged, i.e., on the 17th, on which date he would assume possession. I addressed a note to the Yamên in this sense, and requested an audience as soon as possible. This was fixed for the 13th instant.
Meanwhile, I had received a further telegram from Sir Henry Blake, dated the 12th instant, stating that the Secretary of State for the Colonies approved his Excellency's proposed assumption of government on the 17th instant. Sir Henry Blake added that he had no objection to the Imperial Customs remaining at the stations pending the completion of other arrangements, but that he had no power to prevent them functioning in British territory or waters. This was legally quite impossible.
At my interview with the Yamên on the 13th instant, I again drew particular attention to the Kowloon question, and impressed on the Ministers the fact, as I had already done at my previous interview on the 31st ultimo, that we were going to take over the territory on the 17th instant.
Their Excellencies replied that everything was more or less arranged, except the question of the Customs stations. The Ministers repeated their old arguments as reported to your Lordship in my previous despatch dealing with this question, and their Excellencies insisted that the Governor of Hong Kong had practically agreed to the Customs stations remaining in statu quo. I assured the Ministers that they were mistaken and informed them of the contents of Sir Henry Blake's telegram of the preceding day.
I requested them to inform the Viceroy of Canton by telegram that the government of the leased territory would be taken over on the 17th instant. The Tsung-li Yamên objected that the information they had received from the Viceroy of Canton bore a different complexion. They would, they added, telegraph instructions to him to see Sir Henry Blake and come to an understanding.
I replied that the Chinese authorities should fully understand that the government of the leased territory would be assumed by the Hong Kong authorities on the 17th instant.
The Viceroy of Canton should be told of this at once, and the necessary steps should be taken to preserve order.
I pointed out the necessity of the transfer being conducted in a friendly spirit. After further discussion, in which the Ministers merely repeated their old objections and arguments, their Excellencies begged for a postponement of the date fixed by the Governor.
I held out no hope whatever of any such postponement. Two of the Ministers followed me to the very threshold of the Yamên, repeating in Chinese "not on the 17th."
I had the honour to report the result of this interview by telegraph to your Lordship, and on the 14th instant I received a telegram from your Lordship to the effect that the Governor of Hong Kong had been instructed to agree to the three Chinese Customs stations, which I had named in my telegram to the Foreign Office.
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