Foreign Office, May, 1948.
Paragraphs from Draft Case for Submiasion
to the Law Officers of the Crown.
2. Kowloon City is a small part (61 acres in
size) of the area, leased by China to Great
Britain by a Convention of 9th June, 1898, and
forming an extension of the territory of Hong
Kong. The City is uituated about a quarter of
a mile from the seashore and is near the Kai Tak
aerodrome. It is 20 miles on the British side
of the boundary between the leased territories
and China. (Additional information is given in
paragraphs 1 and 2 of Paver A. No. 1; a map of
Kowloon City is attached as Paper A, No. 2).
11.
Between 1933 and 1937 there were exchanges
of correspondence (Paper E, No. 2 attached)
between H.M.G. and the Chinese Government, but
in the result neither retreated from their
position.
The Chinese interpretation of the
Convention of 1898, as set out in Notes of the
28th June and 27th July, 1933 and repeated later
JI
(Paper & No. 2 pages.70€!?.. Huthee) was that
only areas outside Kowloon city had been leased,
the city itself being retained under Chinese
control, and that accordingly H.K.O. had no
authority to order the evacuation of the
residents. The Chinese Government relied, in
support of this interpretation, upon the words
in Article 2 of the Convention of 1898 "within
the remainder of the newly leased territory
Great Britain shall have sole jurisdiction".
They requested the cancellation of the decision
to evacuate. In a memorandum dated 14th August,
1934, H..0. pointed out that the scheme for
evacuation/
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