14680
SIN,
(Secret.)
No. 184..
COLONIAL OFFICE to FOREIGN OFFICE.
[Answered by No. 185.]
Downing Street, June 9, 1899. I AM directed by Mr. Secretary Chamberlain to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 8th instant respecting the telegram which it is proposed to send to the Governor of Hong Kong in regard to the Kowloon extension, and I am to enclose, for the expression of the concurrence of the Marquess of Salisbury, & further draft of the telegramt as amended.
2. I am to add that it is, in Mr. Chamberlain's opinion, very desirable that the question of the compensation to be demanded from the Chinese Government should be settled at an early date, as he is anxious to put an end to the expense which is being caused to the Colonial Government, and which it is hardly probable can be altogether made good by compensation.
15073
(Confidential.)
I am, &c.,
C. P. LUCAS.
FOREIGN OFFICE to COLONIAL OFFICE.
No. 185.
(Received June 13, 1899.)
SIR,
Foreign Office, June 12, 1899. I LAID before the Marquess of Salisbury your letter of the 9th instant, and I am to state that His Lordship concurs in the terms of the telegram, as amended, which Mr. Secretary Chamberlain proposes to send to the Governor of Hong Kong, respecting the northern boundary of the Kowloon extension, and the question of the compensation to be demanded from the Chinese Government, as an indemnity for the expenses caused by resistance to the British occupation of the leased territory.
I am, &c.,
FRANCIS BERTIE.
219
3. The correspondence* between Mr. Lockhart, and me will show you that our views are very divergent upon the question of the treatment of the leaders of the move- ment. He strongly advocates their banishment and the confiscation of their property, as he assumes that all the mischief was caused by the gentry, and that the people were led or coerced by them into active resistance. Granting all this, which rests upon state- ments that cannot be received without reserve, and allowing that a number of Chinese subjects, who objected to being cut off from the Empire, and handed over to a foreign government, did make preparations and offer armed resistance, in which all the loss was on their side, I hold that having restored order, and received petitions from a number of villages, showing that they are submissive, our best policy is, so far as the mere question of resistance is concerned, to pass a sponge over the events of the past month, and leave them to discover, as they will in a short time, that our rule is not the grinding tyranny that they expected. Indeed, were the other policy to be adopted, I question if we could legally take cognizance of any arrangements entered into by them before possession was taken over. It is to my mind not improbable that in the future the leaders in the movement may be our most useful assistants in carrying out the local arrangements in the new territory.
4. The enclosed report from Mr. May, Captain Superintendent of Police, shows that there is still some idea of an attack from the north. This report was confirmed by information given to Mr. Lockhart from another source. I telegraphed the substance of it to you on the 10th instant. So far, nothing further has been done, and we are quite prepared should an attack be made.
5. While I write I have received a message from Mr. May, saying that Colonel Fong, who is in command in Kowloon City, has come over to him to beg that I will ask the Viceroy to remove him, as he is left with 200 soldiers, who, like himself, have had no pay for over a month, and he has no money to feed them. They will probably all to ask for work upon the road that is being constructed from Kowloon to Sha Tin. mention the matter to show how little difficulty there would be, did we determine to take over Kowloon City.
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6. Having regard to the state of the country to the north of the boundary, I fear that we cannot secure the peace and safety of the district without a considerable addi- tion to the police force. I have sent with my despatch of this date‡ the estimate mado by the Captain Superintendent of Police. A large number of Europeans will be neces- sary, and if we find that they cannot be induced to come for the present pay,
may be necessary to consider the question of increasing it. The fact is that for Europeans this is a very expensive colony, and we cannot expect to induce good men to come out without special inducement.
15079
No. 186.
GOVERNOR SIR H. A. BLAKE to MR. CHAMBERLAIN.
I have, &c.,
HENRY A. BLAKE,
Governor.
Enclosure in No. 188.
SIR,
(Confidential.)
(Received June 13, 1899.)
[Answered by No. 280.]
Government House, Hong Kong, May 13, 1899. SINCE the date of my last despatch, Mr. Stewart Lockhart has been engaged in visiting different portions of the district, in arranging the divisions, and in accumulating evidence of the proceedings anterior to the attacks of the 15th April, and following days.
2. The information accumulated by Mr. Lockhart shows that organized pro- parations for resistance to our occupation of the territory were being openly made from the last week in March; not only in the various districts in the leased area, but in Sham Chun and the different villages of the northern portions of Sham Chun Valley. It is almost beyond the bounds of possibility that such preparations could have been made without the knowledge of the Chinese Authorities, and I am satisfied from the infor- mation received that the Chinese Authorities were cognizant of them.
• No. 183.
t See No. 187.
‡ No. 184.
SIR
Police Office, May 10, 1899.
FOR Some days past there have been rumours in town that the Tung Kun men were contemplating another incursion into the leased territory.
To-day an informer sent by me to Sha Tau to watch them has returned, and re- ports that on the 6th instant over 140 fighting men from Man King Sha in the Tung Kun District arrived at Sha T'au, and feeling their strength not sufficient, sent back 60 of their number to collect more men. The fighting men are said to be hired by the members of the Ming Lan Tong, a literary club situated inside the walled city of Tung Kun.
The members of this Club are the gentry of the District, and the Chairman and Secretaries are members of the Tang Clan which is so numerous in and around Ping- Shan and Un Long, and which furnished the ringleaders in the recent revolt against this Government.
The fighting men apparently are meant to form a nucleus round which the villagers of Sha Tau and neighbourhood will gather for an incursion into our territory.
The informer states that the greatest secrecy is observed at Sha Tau and neigh- bourhood, and that it is very difficult to get information.
• See Enclosures in No. 204.
426
† No. 148.
‡ Not printed.
* B9
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
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