28
CHINA
Now Hong Kong Government have again issued a notice to force people to evacuate within a given period and this is obviously an infringement of treaty stipulations and of the spirit thereof. In consequence people in the said city are very frightened and disturbed and I have the honour to request you to telegraph as soon as may be to Hong Kong Government to abolish this proposal and thus to allay the fears of the people and maintain friendly relations.
I also have the honour to request favour of a reply.
F 5646/1099/10/1934
His Majesty's Minister, Peking, to Chinese Ministry for Foreign Affairs
Memorandum
His Majesty's Minister has the honour to refer to the telegram of 26th June from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs on the subject of reports which had reached his Excellency in connexion with certain measures undertaken by the British Authorities affecting Chinese residents in Kowloon City.
On receipt of the telegram above referred to enquiries were instituted by the competent authorities and His Majesty's Minister is now able to state in reply that the reports in question were based on a misapprehension of the true facts. In the first place the Governor of Hong Kong did not issue any notice to the inhabitants of Kowloon City in question setting a time limit for their evacuation but communicated to them the terms of a generous offer with a view to carrying out a scheme conceived in their interests for improving sanitary conditions. In so doing the Governor was clearly acting within his rights and no question of breach of treaty stipulations arises. Furthermore his Excellency the Minister for Foreign Affairs appears also to have been misinformed as to the attitude of the inhabitants of Kowloon City, for they are neither frightened nor disturbed, but, on the contrary, the vast majority of them have gladly accepted the Governor's offer. It would be most unjust, as his Excellency will understand, to withdraw the offer now and the Governor will therefore proceed to carry out the scheme. His Excellency may, however, rest assured that the utmost consideration will, as heretofore, be shown for the interests of the Chinese inhabitants.
British Legation,
Peiping (at Peitaiho),
14th August, 1934.
F 6068/1099/10/1934
From Chinese Ministry for Foreign Affairs to His Majesty's Minister, Peking (Received 10th September, 1934)
(Translation)
Memorandum
Nanking, 7th September, 1934. The Ministry for Foreign Affairs present their compliments to His Majesty's Legation and have the honour to acknowledge receipt of a memorandum dated 14th August on the subject of the eviction by the Hong Kong Government of the residents of Kowloon City. The Ministry, however, find that there are con- siderable discrepancies between the facts as reported to them and the statements contained in the memorandum under acknowledgment, and has the honour there- fore to submit the following statement :-
[There follows a detailed statement on complaints received from the inhabi-
tants of Kowloon City.]
The Ministry for Foreign Affairs have the honour to observe that the pro- ceedings of the Hong Kong Government in this case having obviously been at variance with the spirit of the treaty stipulations, this Ministry has already, in a note dated 27th July, 1933, requested that the Hong Kong Government be moved to withdraw their original design, as is on record. In June of this year, however, further reports were received that the Hong Kong Government had, notwithstanding the above request, again issued a notification setting a time-limit for the forcible eviction of the residents, in apparently complete disregard of the intentions of the treaties and the sense of this Ministry's previous note. The rights of jurisdiction within Kowloon City have always been patently distinct