which served to fan the spark of anti-British agitation to such a pitch locally that, as the Chancellor, will know, a mob attacked and burned His Majesty's Consulate-General at Canton on the 16th January.
It has been represented to the Chinese from the first that they are deliberately confusing the administrative question of dealing with squatters with the political question of jurisdiction over Kowloon walled city. The British were administering the area and could not possibly allow conditions to prevail which might lead to disorder and disease. We could not pander to Chinese agitation, but all proper steps would be taken to see that no-one with a right to live at Kowloon was expelled.
Yours sincerely,
(Sgd.) R.D. C. McAlpine.