27
a
when the Convention was made. It appears that Kowloon City
was at that time an enclosed area, surrounded by a stone
wall forming as nearly as possible a parallelogram measuring
700 feet by 400 feet. It had at that time a total Chinese
population of about 744 persons, the garrison amounting tò
544 and the civilian population to 200. The civilian population
was dependent upon the military and, according to a report
dated 8th October, 1898, by Mr. Stewart Lockhart, the civilian
population would be sure to follow if the military were to
remove. The Chinese officials stationed within Kowloon City
at the time of the Convention were (with the exception of
one civil officer, a deputy magistrate) military officers,
the head of whom was the Colonel-in-Command. This officer
was chief military officer in the district of San On, now
known as Po.On. His jurisdiction was purely military in
character, extending over the whole district of San On and
the islands adjacent thereto. The garrison under the command
of this, Colonel was maintained for the defence of the district
of San On, and the adjacent islands. The deputy magistrate
resident within the city exercised a somewhat extensive
jurisdiction not confined to the city but comprising a large
portion of the area leased by the Convention to Great Britain.
The Chinese Government, in the course of the various cr
communications which have passed in relation to Kowloon City,
have relied upon the circumstances that other not dissimilar
treaties were made in 1898 and 1899 with Great Britain, Germany,
Russia and France in relation to other Chinese territory.
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;
They have contended that they were "unable to resist the
successive rival demands from the Powers who were seeking a.
sphere of influence on the Asiatic mainland." This may well
have been an accurate description of what was taking place,
the Chinese Government endeavouring so far as they could to
save face by retaining at any rate some measure of token
or real jurisdiction in relation to some of the territories
comprised in the leases. It is not thought, however, that
any other deduction can be made from the terms of these other
treaties helpful for the solution of the question of whether
this dispute should be taken to arbitration.
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