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Convention was analogous to the position of the
City of Kinchow in regard to the Convention for
the leage of Port Arthur to the Russians, who would
they said, be largely guided in dealing with Kin-
chow by British action concerning Kowloon City.
If the provisions of our Convention were disregard-
ed in the case of Kowloon, there was little doubt
but that the Chinese Goverment would be also de-
prived of jurisdiction in the important City of
Kinchow. The Ministers urged that I should re-
present this to Your Lordship with a view to induc-
ing Her Majesty's Government to reconsider their
decision.
I promised to report to Your Lordship what
Their Excellencies had said. At the same time I
had to remind them that according to the Convention
Chinese jurisdiction was to be retained "except"
in so far as may be inconsistent with military
requirements", Kowloon City was at the very gates
of the Colony: for many years it had been an
Alsatia
Alsatia for vagabonds and criminals of every sort;
and the exercise of Chinese jurisdiction had been
abundantly proved to be not only "inconsistent with
military requirements", but a positive source of
danger to Hong Kong. I could see very little analogy
between Kowloon and Kinchow.
The Ministers replied that the Chinese Govern-
ment would be willing to make any arrangements with
the Hong Kong authorities in order to meet the
necessities of the situation; provided only that the
principle for which they contended could be maintain-
ed, and the city return at least nominally to Chinese
jurisdiction.
(Bigned)
I have, &c.,
Claude M. MacDonald.
181