card to play is "New Kowloon".
This area is defined in a little-known
passage (section 39 B) of the Interpretation Ordinance No. 31 of 1911 as follows:
"New Kowloon means that portion of the New Territories which is
delineated and shown upon a map marked 'New Kowloon signed by the Director of Public Works and countersigned by the Governor and deposited in the Land Office"
This delimitation of course had no political validity and was merely a means of bringing the built-up portion of the New Territories under certain urban rules and regulations. For example Section 167
For example Section 167 (1) of the Buildings Ordinance No. 18 of 1935 reads as follows:-
"Certain sections shall not apply to any part of the New Territories except to New Kowloon unless the Governor in Council shall by order direct otherwise "
It is important to note that in the matter of Crown Lease a factory or dwelling-house on the north side of Boundary Street could only be given a tenure coterminous with the 1898 Lease while similar buildings on the south side could have a 75 years renewable lease or any other appropriate to the Colony proper.
8. The boundary of New Kowloon went roughly along the ridge of the Kowloon hills, a very good natural frontier. At its two ends, where it approached the sea, it was delightfully elastic. I recollect, for example, a certain cemetery area beyond Kowloon City and (at the other end) a growing urban extension at Lai-chi-kok being successively added to New Kowloon by a stroke of the pen.
9.
If, as I say, the retrocession of the leased territories, even at some distant date but before 1997, becomes inevitable I suggest that it would be reasonable to exclude the built-up area south of the Kowloon hills. If the latest map of "New Kowloon" has survived that would be a useful basis for the inevitable negotiations for the two seaward extremities, but "built-up" would probably be a near enough guide. The Chinese Government will in any case realise that by such a diplomatic victory they will gain almost nothing except "face"; also perhaps that the development of this
are a