PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
TILHC.O. 882
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-|
5 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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to Colonel Fong, Colonel-in-Command of the 300 Chinese troops to be despatched to various points in the newly-leased territory. I left Kowloon City at 4 a.m., and went on board H.M.S. "Whiting" at 4.17 a.m., which was waiting in Kowloon Bay, in accordance with an arrangement previously made with His Excellency the General Officer Commanding, Major-General Gascoigne, C.M.G. As soon as we got on board the Whiting" started for Tai Po Hü, and I read my instructions to His Excellency the General Officer Commanding.
We passed the Lyeemoon Pass at 4.38 a.m. A dense fog came on at 5 a.m., and ten minutes later the "Whiting" had to stop to take soundings. After soundings had been taken she proceeded at a speed of about 20 knots.
At about 5.30 a.m. she ran against the rocks at Fung Head, south of the entrance of Mirs Bay.
Considering how dense the fog was and the speed at which the "Whiting" had to proceed, in view of the urgency of her mission, Commander Kelly showed great presence of mind under very difficult circumstances.
The "Whiting" reached Tolo Harbour at 9 a.m., and anchored at a distance of a little more than two miles from the point where the matsheds were situated.
The party had disembarked at 9.45 a.m., and marched at once along the north shore of Tolo Harbour for Tai Po Hu, which was about four miles distant, and which was reached at 10.45 a.m.
On seeing our approach, many of the villagers took refuge in the hills, but some of the elders of the village and the custodian of the temple in the village were brought to the temple and questioned. Their names are as follows:-
Pang Ah Fung, of Lung Kong.
Tsu Fuk, of Kam Kau Lek.
Cheung Ng, of Tung Kun.
Leung Nam, of the Wing Shing Shop, in Tai Po Hu.
Chung Ah Shing, of the I Hop shop, in Tai Po Hu.
Chan Fuk, of the Cheung Shu Tau Village.
Lo Kim lau, of the Kwai Shin District, blacksmith in Tai Po Hu.
Chan Tsoi Ki's son, of the Pau Chung Village.
Ho Luk, of the Shek Ku Ling Village.
It was ascertained from Chung A Shing that the villages of Tsa Hang, Lan Tsun, Un Iu Shun Wan, Cheung Shu Tan, Pang Chung, Nam Hang, and Fau Ling had taken part in the opposition offered to Mr. May and his party.
The custodian of the Temple informed us that Mr. May and party returned early in the morning by a boat to Sha Tin, and that Man Chan tsun of the Un Shing grocer's shop, in Tai Po Hu, was one of the ringleaders. He had not only stirred up trouble in Tai Pô Hü, but had also taken part in the opposition to the building of a police station at kau Ling, being aided by his son Man Fung Kai, who poses as a man of authority and influence because he is the possessor of the Chinese literary degree of Sau Tsoi.
He also gave the name of Chang Tsoi Ki as a ringleader.
He is owner of a grocer's shop in Tai Po Hü called Tsoi Ki. He stated that Chan Choi Ki and his two sons had been the prime movers of the trouble at Tai Po Hü.
The custodian of the Temple gave the name of Chan Sin, of the Cheung Shu Tau Village, as the person who gave the signal for attack by beating a drum.
The Temple keeper at first professed ignorance of the whole affair, but when some of the personal effects of the Indian constables and a sun helmet were found in the Temple he became more communicative.
The other elders said they knew nothing of the matter.
Having left the elders and the custodian of the Temple in the Temple, under the custody of a guard of soldiers, we made a visit to Pan Chung, the village adjacent to the spot where the matsheds were erected, but the door of every house in the village was locked from the outside, and not a person could be found. Their absence is good pre- sumptive evidence of their guilt.
Even the female occupants of an isolated house not more than 200 yards away from where one of the matsheds had been burnt, said they knew nothing of the affair.
The shed where the workmen who built the sheds lived, and to which Mr. May retreated when driven from the Temple, had been burnt down, and the remains were still smouldering when we arrived.
A post was found near the spot where the matshed had been burnt down with the characters Chung Fuk Shing Ho on one side and Chung Fuk Shing Ho Wai on
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the other, meaning that the site belongs to Chung Fuk Shing, which shows that the man claimed the property as his own.
The elders who had been kept in the Temple were brought down to the point on the shore where the burnt shed had been erected.
On their arrival His Excellency the General Officer Commanding addressed them, stating that soldiers despatched by the Viceroy would arrive shortly and deal with those who had been guilty of attacking Mr. May and his party, and of burning the mat- shed, and that His Excellency the Governor would take over the territory on the 17th instant, when any disturbance would be promptly suppressed, and the rioters punished.
The elders then retired.
H.M.S. "Fame" and two torpedo boats arrived after the troops had landed. The party re-embarked on board H.M.S. "Whiting" and "Fame," and having started at 2.20 p.m. reached Hong-Kong at 4.40 p.m.
April 5, 1899.
J. H. STEWARTt Lockhart,
Colonial Secretary.
Enclosure 3 in No. 141.
From Major-General W. J. GASCOIGNE to His Excellency the GOVERNOR. SIR,
Hong Kong, April 5, 1899. I HAVE the honour to report, for Your Excellency's information, that about mid- night on 3rd and 4th April, 1899, I received a communication from Your Excellency, informing me that Mr. May, Captain Superintendent of Police, was hemmed in by a crowd of unfriendly natives in the neighbourhood of Taipo Hui, and that he required to be at once released. I at once communicated with Lieutenant-Colonel Mainwaring, commanding 2nd Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers, who arrived at Head-Quarter House in a remarkably short time. Subsequently, at about 1.30 a.m., I received from Your Excellency the attached order to send troops to relieve Mr. May. I ordered out 100 men of the Royal Welsh to be at Murray Pier in an hour's time, to be ready to embark in any craft which could be prepared at so short a notice. At 2.30 a.m. the men were at Murray Pier, ready for embarkation, with food and ammunition. Owing to Your Excellency's forethought, I found a number of police launches ready at the Pier, and having by means of them ascertained that H.M.S." Whiting" was able to accommodate the whole party, and that H.M.S. "Fame" could not be ready till 4.30 a.m., I ordered the troops to embark on H.M.S. “Whiting,” and H.M.S. "Fame" to follow later as a despatch boat. I, with my staff, accompanied the troops on the "Whiting." The Colonial Secretary, Honourable Mr. Lockhart, met me on the Pier, and informed me that it was Your Excellency's desire that he should first proceed to Kowloon City to confer with the head man there, get an interpreter, and then proceed with me in the Whiting," which was to wait for him at Kowloon City. Mr. Lockhart accomplished his mission in a remarkably short time, and came on board at 4.30 a.m., and we at once started. The night was exceedingly foggy; so thick that it was a matter of the utmost difficulty to proceed at all. But as speed was of the utmost consequence, our informa tion being that Mr. May was in extreme difficulty, Commander Kelly, with my entire concurrence, made all the speed possible.. At about 6 a.m. he had the misfortune to strike a rock, twisting the bow plates, but not otherwise doing any serious damage. I can only say that in this accident no blame whatever in my opinion was attributable to Commander Kelly, who had either the alternative of anchoring owing to the darkness (in which case Mr. May and his party might have been murdered) or else proceeding to their rescue at a certain amount of risk. Of the two evils the latter was the least, and I venture to emphasize to Your Excellency that in my opinion Commander Kelly was not to blame in the least, but, on the contrary, endeavoured to carry out the exigencies of the situation in the best possible way. Owing to the dense fog the troops did not arrive till 9 a.m., and there being but two small boats, the landing of the whole party was not completed till 9.45 a.m. There was a distance of nearly four miles to be traversed in very hot sun. An advance guard was formed, and at 10.45 a.m. the column arrived at Taino Ilui City. Mr. Lockhart on arrival asked me to halt the column at the temple, rnd, with the aid of the troops, but without the least violence, some 9 or 10 of the leading inhabitants, shopkeepers, and others, were brought to the Temple, and there questioned separately as to what had become of Mr. May and his party.
At first they
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