-2-
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
This Officer was the chief military
Colonel-in-Command.
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 of Great Britain. The Chinese Government, in the course of the various 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. 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. We do not think, however, that any other deduction can be made from the terms of these other treaties helpful for the solution of the questions put
to us.
From the date when the Convention was made, there was
not/