29088.
362
No. 263.
BOARD OF TRADE to COLONIAL OFFICE.
(Received October 24, 1899.)
Board of Trade, (Fisheries and Harbour Department),
7, Whitehall Gardens, London, S.W.,
SIB,
October 23, 1899. WITH reference to your letter of the 13th ultimo,* on the subject of the lighting of the southern approaches to Hong Kong Harbour, I am directed by the Board Trade to transmit to you a copy of a communication upon the subject which has been received from the Corporation of Trinity House, to whom your letter and its enclosures were referred, and to request that in laying it before Mr. Secretary Chamberlain, you will be so good as to state that the Board concur in the views expressed by the Cor- poration of Trinity House.
I have, &c.,
SIB,
Enclosure in No. 263.
T. H. W. PELHAM.
Trinity House, London, E.C., October 13, 1899. REFERRING to your letter, F. and H. 12,966, dated the 20th ultimo, on the subject of the lighting of the southern approaches to Hong Kong, and transmitting a communication from the Secretary of State for the Colonies, enquiring as to the neces- sity for maintaining both the lighthouse on Waglan Island and that at Cape d'Aguilar, and requesting the opinion of the Elder Brethren on this question, I am directed to acquaint you, for the information of the Board of Trade, the Elder Brethren consider that if the light on Cape Collinson were improved by the transference of the Dioptrio apparatus and lantern from Cape d'Aguilar, as suggested below by their engineer, the Cape d'Aguilar light might safely be dispensed with, as then, vessels keeping Cape Collinson and Wagian Island lights ahead and astern, would pass through mid-channel and four cables from the nearest danger. The Elder Brethren would therefore recom- mend the improvement of Cape Collinson light, and the discontinuance of the light on Cape d'Aguilar.
The engineer-in-chief reports that the intensity of the existing white light on Cape Collinson does not exceed about 500 candles, and that of the red sectors about 200 candles, but that the improvement of Cape Collinson light could be effected at a com- paratively small cost by transferring the Dioptric apparatus and lantern from the Lighthouse at Cape d'Aguilar. This course would, however, probably necessitate the erection at Cape Collinson of a new stone tower, which should be a low structure, so that the focal plane of the light would be maintained at a height not exceeding that of the present light, viz., 200 feet.
The lantern and apparatus could be so erected in the new structure as to admit of the existing light being maintained at Cape Collinson until the new one was ready for exhibition.
The intensity of the white beam from the latter would be about 7,000 candles, and that of the red sectors about 3,000 candles.
The Assistant Secretary,
Fisheries and Harbour Department, Board of Trade.
29271/8.
No. 264.
I am, &c.,
CHAS. A. KENT.
FOREIGN OFFICE to COLONIAL OFFICE.
363
Secretary Chamberlain proposes to send to the Governor of Hong Kong in regard to the retrocession of Sham Chun.
As soon as His Lordship is informed that a reply has been received to the letter addressed to the War Office by your Department on the subject, and that the tele- gram has been sent, corresponding instructions will at once be forwarded to Her Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires at Peking.
Lord Salisbury agrees, as regards the acquisition of Gap Rock, that existing arrangements should be allowed to continue, and he does not propose to instruct Mr. Bax-Ironside to make any communication to the Chinese Government on the subject. I am to add that the proposal that a new Order in Council should we prepared amending that of October 20, 1898, and declaring Kowloon City to be in all respects and for all purposes incorporated with the rest of the leased territory, also meets with His Lordship's concurrence.
28082.
SIB,
No. 265.
I am, &c.,
FRANCIS BERTIE.
MR. CHAMBERLAIN to GOVERNOR SIR H. A. BLAKE. [Copy to War Office, October 26, 1899, L.F.]
(NO. 248.)
Downing Street, October 26, 1899.
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch, No. 285, of
*
the 15th ultimo, relative to the services rendered by the Hong Kong Volunteers in connection with the occupation of the New Territory.
2. I have read this despatch with interest and satisfaction, and I highly appre- ciate the readiness with which the Volunteers responded to the call to duty.
3. I have caused a copy of this correspondence to be forwarded to the Secretary of State for War.
29796/8.
(Secret.)
No. 266.
I have, &c.,
J. CHAMBERLAIN.
WAR OFFICE to COLONIAL OFFICE. (Received October 30, 1899.)
War Office, October 28, 1890.
SIR,
I AM directed by the Secretary of State for War to acknowledge the receipt of your letter, No. 28428, of the 21st instant, respecting the decision of Her Majesty's Government to withdraw immediately from the Sham Chun district, and to retire within the boundary of the leased territory.
In reply, I am to acquaint you that Lord Lansdowne concurs in Mr. Chamberlain's proposal to telegraph to the Governor of Hong Kong to the above effect.
I have, &c.,
(Confidential.)
SIB,
(Received October 25, 1899.) [Answered by No. 271.]
Foreign Office, October 24, 1899.
I LAID before the Marquess of Salisbury your letter of the 21st instant, and I am directed to say that His Lordship concurs in the terms of the telegram which Mr.
• No. 241.
† No. 261.
R. H. KNOX,
• No. 258.
↑ No. 262.
$88
***
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O. 882
5 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
364