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British Government stood by the Order-in-Council of
27th December, 1899, but it was pointed out that it
had never, in fact, been recognized by the Chinese
Government.
After consultati on with the War office, Admiralty
and Air Ministry it was decided at a meeting held in
London on 16th July, 1937, between the Governor of
Hong Kong, and representatives of the War Office,
Foreign Office and Colonial office, that any
concession to the Chinese in regard to their resuming
jurisdiction over Kowloon City, might well be
incompatible with the military requirements of
Hong Kong, and that once a concession had been
allowed in Kowloon City (an area of approximately 8
acres), the Chinese might be expected to "cast
covetous eyes on the rest of the New Territories of
which the walled City was in the pre-cession era the
Chinese administrative centre". Authority was
therefore given for the remaining recalcitrant owners
in Kowloon to be evicted and an intelligence report
dated 30th September, 1937, states that the Chinese
authorities hau not referred to the matter again either
in Canton or Nanking.
They have however raised the matter again at the
present time and the Governor of Hong Kong,
Sir Mark Young, in an interview with Mr. T.W. Kwok
(Chinese Special Foreign Affairs Commissioner) on
September 15th, was informed that the Chinese
Government would not relinquish any treaty rights, was
preparing to re-establish its jurisdiction, and has
actually given orders that the Chinese civil ad-
ministration was to be set up in Kowloon City. it
seems clear from the foregoing paragraphs that
China has never agreed to waive her jurisdiction over
the walled city, although no jurisdiction has been
/exercised