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on the British forces, the British terminated the Chinese jurisdiction in Kowloon City by Order in Council in 1899 and have since administered sole jurisdiction there as in the whole of the New Territory. For about 30 years after the Boxer outbreak no question was raised about our position, but the Chinese have challenged it several times since 1933. The Japanese demolished the wails of Kowloon City in 1942 to obtain materials for the adjacent Kai Tak airfield and the place has since been largely derelict. After the war the greater part of the area was cultivated by illegal squatters living in insanitary huts which were a danger to public health.
2. The Hong Kong Government accordingly decided as a normal measure of public health to clear the site which presented danger of fire and disease.
They gave ample notice of their intentions and offered alternative sites. When this was ignored eviction notices were served on the squatters by order of the Kowloon Court.
3. After the initial eviction had been completed without incident the Magistrate of Po On Hsien visited Kowloon City accompanied by various officials and there addressed the crowd under the Chinese National flag. act was interpreted in the Chinese press as a re- affirmation of Chinese sovereignty. The squatters returned and police measures to expel then a second time were met with resistance.
Chinese press
The basis of
This
4. The general reaction of the thereafter te came hostile and biased. this campaign is that Kowloon City is Chinese territory and the action of the Governor of Hong Kong is there fore ultra vires. This theme has been orchestrated with all the devices of propaganda into an anti-British campaign,. which directly provoked the outrages in Canton.
5. It has been represented to the Chinese from the first, both in Nanking and London, that they are deliberately confusing the administrative question of dealing with squatters with the political question of jurisdiction over Kowloon City. The British were administering the area. and could not possibly allow conditions to prevail which might lead to disorder and disease. We could not pander to Chinese agitation but all proper steps would be taken to see that no one with a right to live in Kowloon was expelled.
6. On learning of the outrage at Canton His Majesty's Ambassador at Nanking made a protest to the Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs and requested that adequate measures be taken to protect British life
and
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