minor casualties is good. In the other case, the bullet has been removed and his condition was reported on the 13th January to be fair.
5. In the course of the evictions on the 5th January, twO men were arrested and charged with inciting the squatters to resist the police. They were subsequently tried and sentenced to three months' hard labour each. One of them admitted in cros8- examination that he had previously been in 156th Division of Chinese Army attached to the Political Propaganda Section.
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6. The Governor's decision to clear the area was a normal administrative measure taken as a precuation against the threat of fire and disease. Alternative sites were offered and it was open to the squatters to remove the materials of their huta to these sites. Had they done so the evictions would not have been necessary. His Majesty's Ambassador, Nanking, has of course kept His Majesty's Government and the Governor of Hong Kong informed of the various representations made by the Chinese Government.
7. Mr. T... Kwok, the Chinese Representative in Hong Kong, raised objection to the proposed evictions at the outset, on the ground of the Chinese claim to jurisdiction. He protested after the evictions on January 5th; and again, on January 12th, after the removal of the re-erected huts. On the last occasion, the Governor remonstrated with him for encouraging the agitators. at the outset, instead of telling the squatters of the action he had taken and advising them to obey the eviction orders.
8. Before the expiry of the original eviction notices, Dr. T.V. Soong, Governor of Kwangtung Province, made and then cancelled a request to the Governor for action to be postponed until he had had time to acquaint himself and the local public with the facts.
Colonial office,
19th January, 1948.