BOPY.
Enclosure to A.L. M/5820, of 20th May, 1903, to O. O. C.O. No/230/230.
Sir,
1901
COMMANDER
THE
03
CHINA STATION.
28th March, 1903.
345
A
be Secretary,
The long-established and hitherto unquestioned right of His Majesty's Naval Service in regard to an anchorage at Hong Kong have recently by a Minute of the local legal authorities been so seriously infringed and thereby made so inadequate to the requirements of the Fleet on the station, that I am obliged to lay the matter before the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty with a view to its being put on a proper footing by such means as their Lordships may see fit to adopt.
2.- In order to facilitate work on the dockyard extension, it was recently proposed to remove some private moorings from the "Man-of-War" anchorage as laid down in Admiralty Chart No.1459 and as last defined by Hongkong Ordinance No.26 of 1891. This led to the correspondence enclosed.
3.- In order to see how rights, formally granted and unquestioned for years, are being infringed until they are in effect abrogated, it is necessary to go back to 1858. On 2nd October of that year, the Hongkong Government Gazette published "the boundaries of the anchorage set apart by direction of H.E. the naval Commander-in-Chief for Vessels of War" and also a letter from Rear-Admiral Sir Michael Seymour, dated 1st October, which stated that "the naval Commander-in-Chief wishes it (the anchorage) to be understood as appropriated for ships of war; but at the same time, desirous of the Admiralty.