CO537-1657 — Page 73

For fuller details see my memorandum of 15th August, 1933 and Mr. Turral's memorandum of 14th August, 1933.

For about 30 years after the Boxer outbreak of 1900 no question appears to have been raised as to our position. The matter was however again brought into prominence in 1933 by the Hong Kong Government's proposal to expropriate certain Chinese owners of property in the city of Kowloon. The Chinese Government made representations protesting against this proposal and claiming that "the city of Kowloon remains under the jurisdiction of China".

The legal position as to the exercise of jurisdiction by His Majesty's Government within the city is discussed in Foreign Office despatch to the Colonial Office of 9th March, 1934, with the conclusion that from the point of view of jurisdiction we were not on very stronę grounds, but that a prescriptive right had been established for the exercise of British jurisdiction in the

city of Kowloon in as much as the Chi..ese Government having tacitly acquiesced for over 30 years could not now say that we were not rightly there, or alternatively that the exercise of Chinese jurisdiction was still inconsistent with the military requirements for the defence of Hong Kong as laid down in the Convention of 1898. The matter was referred to the war Office and Admiralty who both stated that they regarded the resumption of Chinese jurisdiction as being prejudicial to the defence requirements of Hong Kong.

In the note of 29th June, 1935 from the Special Delegate for Foreign Affairs for Kwangtung and Kwangsi to His Majesty's Consul-General, Canton, the Special Delegate reiterated that "Kowloon city is Chinese territory and has not been leased to Great Britain".

Of

The matter continued to be the subject of dispute throughout 1935 and 1936 and first half of 1937. the 64 Chinese householders 60 or 61 accepted the Hong Kong Government's offer and moved into alternative improved quarters built for them, and authority was eventually given to evict the 3 or 4 recalcitrants. Throughout the Chinese maintained their attitude on the jurisdictional issue, while we argued for the most part that the clearance of the area in question was necessary on grounds of public health and civic amenities.

A meeting was held at the Colonial Office on 16th July, 1937 at which the whole matter was discussed with inco.clusive results. The Colonial Office representatives maintained that we could not admit Chinese Jurisdiction in the city of Kowloon without serious prejudice to the maintenance of the colony of Hong Kong and that any question of admitting Chinese jurisdiction would clearly have to be decided by the Cabinet. In the event,

with the outbreak of hostilities between China and Japan in July 1937, the matter went into abeyance and has remained there up to the present.

19th September, 1946.

(Foreign Office)