54145/16/6/48. Secret.
Dear Beekett,
29th April, 1948.
2
(1)
JURISDICTION WITHIN THE WALLED CITY OF KOWLQON.
Many thanks for your letter of the 19th April. I am grateful to you, Vallat, and Mervy-Jones for preparing a draft. As Kowloon is administered by the Govemment of Hong Kong, I think the case should go to the Law officers jointly from you and me.
I have not very mugh to say on the details of the draft, but should like to make the following comments :-
Paragrah 2.
It would be useful to add that Kowloon is 20 miles on the British side of the boundary of the leased territoriem.
Paragraph 13.
;
Your minute. It is true that Sir A. Cadogan's note of the 5th August, 1935 was unfortunately silent on the legal issue, but the whole of the correspondence must, I think, be read together, and we cannot ignore the statement furs 11 weft in the memorandum of the 14th August, 1944, that "the
Governor was clearly acting within his rights and no question of breach of treaty stipulations arises". I agree of course that it would have been much better if the reasoned case put up by the Chinese had been answered.
Paragraph 17.
The person who received serious wounds did not die, but made a complete recovery (Hong Kong telegrams Nos. 81 pur 15 vow ift and 127 of 1948, of which the Foreign Office have copies).
Paragraphs 20 and 21,
Is not the answer to the last sentence of
W.E. BECKETT ESQ, C.H. G., X. C.
/paragraph