Mr. T.W. Kwok telephoned this morning to ask if I would
give him an appointment to discuss the statement which appeared in
the newspapers on September 15th regarding the status of Kowloon
City. I arranged to see Mr. Kwok at 3 p.m. today and we had a talk
which lasted for about an hour.
Mr. Kwok began by speaking rather bitterly about the Chinese
Press, which had made entirely unauthorised disclosures on the sub-
ject and which had added to its misdeeds by attacking him personally.
He then told me that the question of reviving or reasserting
the rights of the Chinese authorities to exercise jurisdiction in
Kowloon City had started with the activities of the Chinese Magis-
trate of Po On. This official had "studied the treaty and other
documents" and had then suggested to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign
Affairs that Chinese civil administration should be set up in Kowloon
City by him in accordance with Chinese treaty rights.
The Chinese Government had agreed to this suggestion and
had instructed the Magistrate of Po On to proceed in the matter.
At this point of Mr. Kwok's account I asked whether I was
to understand that the Chinese Government had instructed its
official to take this action without any application or notification
to the Hong Kong Government or to His Majesty's Government. Mr.
Kwok answered this by saying that he had intended to make some
communication to the Hong Kong Government but that he deferred
doing so until the plans of the magistrate of Po On for setting up
his civil administration in Kowloon City were completed. He had
given very special instructions to the Po On magistrate that he
was not to allow any reference to the matter to appear in the news-
papers. He was therefore much embarrassed when the articles in the
Chinese newspapers of the 6th and 7th September appeared and had
declined to comment on the matter when the newspapers questioned
him; he had therefore incurred their displeasure. I told Mr.Kwok
quite frankly that I was surprised to learn from him that the
Chinese Government had given instructions to one of its officials
to attempt to alter the existing state of affairs in a part of the
New Territories without any notification to the Government of the