CO537-3706 — Page 104

54145/16/48

Colonial Office,

Church House,

Great Smith Street,

S.W.1.

8th March, 1948.

189

Walled City of Kowloon

It seems clear from the Ambassador's telegram No. 231 that no proposals will be acceptable to the Chinese unless they give them the right to exercise jurisdiction within the Walled City of Kowloon.

The Ambassador says in paragraph 4 of his telegram No.231 that we seem to have reached the situation foreseen in paragraph 3 of Hong Kong telegram No.214, where the Governor contemplated our having to fall back on the Consulate compound idea. As however the Chinese have now made it so clear that nothing short of jurisdiction will satisfy them, I doubt whether the above course is still open to us. We should have to get an assurance from the Chinese that they would not represent a solution on these lines to be an admission of their claim to jurisdiction and an agreement to their exercising it, should the occasion arise, and there is obviously no chance of their doing this. The alterna- tive courses open to us seem to be:-

(a)

to leave things as they are:

(b)

to proceed with the original proposal for a park:

(c)

to proceed with the proposal for a Garden of Remembrance.

Whichever

P.#. SCARLETT, ESQ.