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Sir,
Despatch from H. E. the Governor Hong Kong to
Secretary of State for Colonies.
GOVERNMENT HOUSE,
HONG Kose, 18th February, 1926.
I have the honour to forward for your information a chronological summary of the "incidents" that have occurred on the New Territories Frontier since June 1925. They mark a breach in the generally peaceful relations obtaining since the lease of the New Territories in 1898, attributable only to the activities of the Strike Pickets which under the direction of the Strikers' Committee in Canton have been posted on the Frontier to prevent trade with British Territory,
2. Many of the incidents are clearly attributable directly to the pickets themselves acting under instructions; for a number of others the pickets are no doubt equally respon- sible; while less directly the conditions they have established offer opportunities which robbers and brigands, have not been slow to seize.
3. The whole state of lawlessness evidenced by the list of outrages may therefore justly be laid at the door of the present Government of Canton: which, if it does not ac- tively assist the pickets, at the least condones this systematic and open attack on trade with British Territory.
4. The circumstances constitute a wholesale violation of the spirit of the Treaty of Nanking as expressed in Article I. The connivance of the Canton Government with this deliance of Treaty rights is a conclusion it is impossible to avoid; and in the absence of any responsible governmental control in China there is no immediate reason to expect au end to this interference with normal conditions of life on the Frontier.
5. This despatch complements my *despatch of the 18th February in which I have set out in detail Treaty conditions violated by the present Government of Canton.
6. I am sending a copy of this despatch to His Majesty's Minister at Peking and His Majesty's Consul-General at Canton.
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
&c..
I have the honour to be,
Sir,
Your most obedient humble servant,
LIEUTENANT COLONEL L. C. M. 8. AMERY, M.P.,
&c.,
&c.
*Herein before printed.
(Sd.)
C. CLEMENTI,
Governor, e
1. On 5th July, a seaman of the Water Police, named Tang San (No. 94) left the Police motor boat at Lok Ma Chau and went over to Sham Chun (Chinese Territory) to buy food, according to his usual practice. While there he was seized by a gang of un- armed men, and imprisoned. He was subsequently sent to Canton and there imprisoned at the Supervisory Bureau for over a fortnight. He was released, but told that he must not leave Canton. A day or two later he managed to effect his escape and make his way to Shan: Chun. With the assistance of friends he was able to evade the pickets and on 1st August to return to duty at Lok Ma Chau.
2. On 14th July a butcher took a boat-load of seven pigs from Tai Po Market (British Territory) to British Sha Tau Kok. He landed on the beach on the British side of the frontier and drove the pigs to the railway station. When they had been put on to a truck a party of about 20 armed Chinese suddenly appeared, seized the pigs and the mar in charge and took them away into Chinese Territory.
3. On 16th July a party of eight Chinese women, carrying baskets of fruit started to cross the Sham 'hun River by the Man Kam To Ferry near Lok Ma Chau. A labour picket ordered them to return and upon their refusal to obey the order opened fire. One woman was killed instantaneously and another mortally wounded. Two jumped into the river and were drowned and three were arrested and subsequently sent to Canton. The surviving member of the party was the daughter of the wounded woman, and was allow ed by the picket to carry her mother to the nearest village for the purpose of obtaining assistance.
4. On 27th July the Assistant Superintendent of Police, New Territories, reported as follows:-
"Yesterday afternoon 26th July, 1925, about 300 Cadets in charge of Rus- sian officers, were seen lining the Chinese side of the Sham Chum River, between Lo Fong and Ta Ku Ling Bridge. They appeared to be employed in preventing all persons from entering British Territory. They remained there until dusk and then returned to Sham (n. I gave orders for a military and a police picket to keep them under discreet observation, but nothing untoward happened; no attempt being made by the Cadets to tres- pass on our territory."
5. On 30th July the Assistant Superintendent of Police, New Territories, reported as follows:
"There are about 70 Cadets, in charge of Russian officers, quartered in Chinese Lin Ma Hang, North of Ta Ku Ling. They are there evidently to prevent the conveyance of cattle and foodstuffs over the Sha Wan Gap.” "Lance Sergeant Knowles reports that 40 Cadets arrived yesterday (July 29th) in Chinese Sha Tau Kok and that they are all Northerners.'
6. On 30th July at about 6.45 p.m. a Hong Kong Chinese Police Sergeant arrested a man in British Territory carrying two tins of kerosene oil towards the frontier. In answer to questions the man stated that he was taking the oil to Sham Chun (Chinese Territory). He was arrested and handed over to a police patrol with instructions that he was to be taken to Ta Ku Ling station. Before the patrol reached the station, and opposite to the Convent in Chinese Territory, a shot was tired and a bullet struck the road in front of the patrol.
7. On 31st July at about 6.30 a.m, near Ta Ku Ling two soldiers from Chinese Territory came across the border and fired three shots at men who were driving cattle Three bullocks were seized, but after some parleying were given back.
8. On 13th August a gang of seven painters were at work on the British end of railway bridge number 49, which spans the Sham Chun River, when two men armed with rifles and a number of unarmed men cune across the bridge, seized them and took them away into Chinese Territory.
9. On 14th August at about 1a.m. the police rowing boat on the Sham Chun River near Lok Ma Chau was hailed from Chinese Territory and ordered to come along side the bank. The crew shouted that they were police, whereupon a number of shots were fired at them from Chinese Territory.
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