No: 1024/77.
Sir,
D.W. 941/04.
COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF,
CHINA STATION,
1st December 1903.
In continuation of my letter No: 765/77 of the 12th September last, and particularly with reference to paragraphs 2 and 5 of it, be pleased to inform the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty that I have now received a letter from the Governor of Hong Kong in which he informs me that "provided the proposal meets with the approval of the Secretary of State for the Colonies, there is no objection to handing over to the Admiralty the whole of the Peninsula referred to, on the usual terms of possession of which a Statement is attached, in exchange for the rights possessed by them over the Naval Range at Kowloon and in full satisfaction of whatever property the Admiralty may possess on that Range in the shape of Pavilion, Butts, etc., in connection with it all of which will be taken over with the Range by the Colonial Government".
The Governor further states that the Colonial Government will bear the cost of resuming and paying compensation for private property on the Peninsula, and His Excellency asks whether the Admiralty have any objection to allowing a Temple and House on the Peninsula to remain; they would become Naval property on their purchase by the Colonial Government and could be leased by the Admiralty to their present Owners. I cannot foresee any objection to the Temple and House remaining.
I submit, if the offer is accepted as recommended.
The Secretary,
ADMIRALTY, 8.7.