(F 18553/10147/10)
FOREIGN OFFICE, S.W.1.
4th February, 1950.
N
(!)
Dear Side so than,
You will no doubt have seen the correspondence about the limits of Hong Kong's territorial waters resting with Coates' letter F 18553/10147/10 of the 10th January to Radford.
You will recall that the map annexed to the 1898 Sino-British Convention delimits the leased territory by a line which appears to take in considerable areas of water, including possibly parts of the high seas, but which, on the other hand, in certain places excludes what would normally be part of the territorial waters attached to the territory leased. The Hong Kong Interpretation Ordinance of 1911, Section 39 B(1), follows this map and defines the Colony of Hong Kong as the whole area of land and water lying within the line defined on the map. You will also recall, however, that the question was examined in 1937 in connexion with the Sino-Japanese hostilities; and we then, after taking legal opinion, expressed the view that the line on the map did not mean that there was a purported lease of any waters outside normal territorial waters and that the line was merely a delimitation of the area within which all territory was leased, and accompanying the territory the normal territorial waters. This view was accepted by the Departments concerned, and the Commander-in-Chief, Far East Station, subsequently gave the Japanese naval
J. B. Sidebotham, Esq., C.M.G
Colonial Office.
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authorities/