Refer-Gemuel Gon
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18th. of June, 1902, paragraph 9, we wrote as follows..
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"As General Officer Commanding I was most anxious that the deliberately expressed hope of the whole British Community of Hongkong expressed not only through the medium of the public press but also by the Unofficial Members of Council in person should be furthered as far as possible by the Military Authorities, provided that some fair and amicable arrangement could be arrived at by which the Colonial Government would give the Military Authorities an equitable exchange for the rights surrendered. I was satisfied before telegraphing to you on the 28th. of April, that the Colonial Government was prepared to treat the matter in a sufficiently liberal spirit, and I was therefore ready, both as General Officer Commanding and Officer Administering the Government, to recommend that the inauguration of the large Park should be proceeded with and should form part of the Coronation Ceremonies. I was glad to receive your approval of the scheme in your telegram of the 7th. instant and I have noted its provisional terms both as regards the limitation of expenditure and the provision of new Ranges before the old ones are given up".
5.
Two facts are made manifest by the above correspondence. One that the Colonial Government and the local Military Authorities contemplated that rights of the War Department over the land to be devoted to the Park should be exchanged for another area of land. The other that the exchange should be the outcome of an amicable agreement acceptable to both the Colonial Government and the Military Authorities.
The Committee of prominent residents which