PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :--
TIC.O. 882
سلتيلسا
5 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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in the recent movement should be banished and their property confiscated. I fear it will not be possible to capture those implicated in this atrocious murder, but large rewards should be offered for their arrest, and if the men are captured the rewards should be paid by the villagers concerned.
The widow of the murdered man is 45 years of age, and has a family of five sons and two daughters. The eldest son, 23, is married, and has no children. The other sons are aged 18, twins 15, the youngest 4. I will try to find employment for the four eldest sons.
The eldest daughter is aged 20, and is married. The second daughter is aged 12. I will take steps to have the family well looked after. If the property referred to above is confiscated, part of the proceeds could be devoted to the support of the widow and her family. In the meantime the Ha Tsun district should for her support, say, $15 a month.
pay
Ng Ki Cheung, the elder of the Un Long District, has been detained, and I am sure I shall be able to elicit important information from him.
As the murder took place in the Un Long District, the troops will visit that district to-day.
[2.]
J. H. STEWART Lockhart,
Colonial Secretary.
The humble petition of Tang Wong Shi, aged 45 years, who lives in the village of Sek Hong in the Ha Tsun District. Your petitioner begs to humbly present a petition in the matter of the murder of a messenger whose corpse has been thrown into the water, which wrong still being unredressed, your petitioner prays that the guilty parties may be punished without mercy. Your petitioner's husband, Tang A Cheung, returned from Hong Kong, having been instructed by the British authorities there to proceed to Un Long and surrounding districts.
Contrary to all anticipations, the local bully and tiger-like member of the gentry, Tang Tsing Sz, and others, ordered Tang A Nin to seize my husband and take him to the meeting house at Un Long, where he was beaten and shot, and his body thrown into the water. This grievous wrong is still unredressed. But now that the British soldiers have come to this country this wrong will be redressed, and the doers of it punished and justice done. Your petitioner humbly kneels before you, and prays that you will order your soldiers to institute a search, so that the murderers may be arrested, the body recovered, and the guilty dealt with without mercy, so that this wrong may not remain unpunished. For this your petitioner will be grateful for generations to
come.
The following is a list of those implicated:-
Tang Tsing Sz.
Tang Chik Ting.
Tang I Shek.
Tang Chu Shan ordered the murder of my husband.
Tang A Nin arrested my husband, and took him to the meeting house in Un Long,
where he shot him.
Dated April 20, 1899.
(Translated by J. H. Stewart Lockhart.)
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[4.]
YOUR EXCELLENCY,
Ping Shan, April 23, 1899. I HAVE been using every endeavour to induce the people to return to their usual avocations. On the 20th inst. I issued a notification, of which I enclose a copy, and which has had a very good effect.
Yesterday I received five petitions, which are all couched in the same terms. attach a translation. The petitions are from:-
.as
(1) The Kam Ting District, including 11 villages. (2) The Pat Heung District, including 8 villages.
(3) The Ha Tsun District, including 9 villages.
The Shap Pat Heung District, including 22 villages. The Castle Peak District, including 8 villages. (4) The Ping Shan District, including 13 villages. (5) The Lam Tsun District, including 20 villages.
Total, 91 villages.
These villages represent the most important section of the new territory.
I
You will observe that petitioners request that the Government may select such sites it may require for offices, police stations, &c.
These petitions were brought by the elders of the various districts mentioned, and were presented in the presence of over 100 people, who had assembled in front of our quarters here. I availed myself of the opportunity to impress upon those present that there was no reason why they should not return to their villages and pursue their lawful occupations; that good people would receive every protection, but that bad characters would be punished without leniency.
The villagers in this neighbourhood are returning in large numbers to their vil- lages, and most of the male population is at work as usual in the fields.
A quantity of arms has been surrendered by the different villages, which I will have removed to Taipo later on.
J. H. STEWART Lockhart,
Colonial Secretary.
P.S.-The Captain Superintendent of Police informs me that some of the vil- lagers from this territory have gone to Hong Kong and tried to make people believe that they knew nothing about the cession of the territory to Great Britain. You will observe that petitioners make no such plea, and you will, of course, remember that I sent Mr. Tsoí round with the proclamation of the San On District Magistrate, which Mr. Tsoi himself posted in all the chief villages. Your Excellency's proclamation would also have been more widely distributed had not the people murdered the person sent to distribute them.
J. H. S. L.
All good villagers should return to their villages and carry on their work as usual. If bad characters attempt to interfere with them, an immediate report should be made, and they will be dealt with without mercy.
The Camp, Ping Shan, April 20, 1899.
J. H. STEWARt Lockhart,
Colonial Secretary.
YOUR EXCELLENCY,
[3.]
Ping Shan, April 23, 1899.
THE troops proceeded to Un Long yesterday, and burnt the meeting house in which the brutal murder already reported by ine was arranged. The inhabitants of Un Long and Ha Tsun all say that the burning of the houses on the 21st inst. and of the meeting house yesterday is a punishment richly deserved. There can be no doubt of the excellent effect produced in this neighbourhood by the steps taken immediately after having received information of the atrocious crime that had been committed.
The body of the deceased was found yesterday and buried.
Four houses have been closed at Ha Tsun and one at Un Long. The four houses belong to Tang I Shek, who was implicated in the murder, and the house at Un Long to Ng Fung Cheung, one of the ringleaders, who has fled.
J. H. STEWART Lockhart.
Ng Sui Shang states:-
[5.]
Sheung Shui (near Fan Ling), April 26, 1899.
By the order of the Colonial Secretary I engaged two men and one woman to post the Chinese proclamation of the Governor in the newly-leased territory. They were named Tang Cheung, Tang Tsz Kwai, and the wife of Ma Tso Wong. I sent Tang Cheung to the Un Long Division, Tang Tsz Kwai to Ping Shan, and the woman to Kam Tin. The woman returned, and told me that when she reached Castle Peak she was seized by the villagers, who said they would kill her. They stole from her $5. She returned to Hong Kong, and told me this. The proclamations were taken from her. I forget how many. Tang Sz Kwai sent on the 3rd of the 3rd moon (12th April). I sued him at Ping Shan on the 10th of the 3rd moon (19th April). He told me he had gone to Ha Tsun, and the villagers were going to seize [him], when his clansman, Tang Hing