CO537-3711 — Page 130

THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY'S GOVERNMENT

CONFIDENTIAL

F 860/154/10

CHINA January 24, 1948 Section 2

Copy No.

158

Your Excellency,

WALLED CITY OF KOWLOON

Eviction of Squatters

Mr. Attlee to the Chinese Ambassador

Foreign Office,

24th January, 1948.

I have the honour to refer to the repre- sentations which your Excellency has recently made to me concerning the eviction of the squatters from the former walled city of Kowloon. Your Minister Counsellor was good enough to leave at the Foreign Office on 13th January an aide-mémoire setting out four points to which he drew special attention.

2. As you are aware, the Chinese Government and His Majesty's Govern- ment hold divergent views about the ques- tion of jurisdiction over the so-called walled city of Kowloon and I do not pro- pose to discuss these in this Note. I would however point out that, except for the period of Japanese occupation from 25th December, 1941, to September 1945, the Hong Kong Government have in fact exer- cised sole jurisdiction over the six and a half acres in question uninterruptedly from 1899 down to the present day, a period of nearly fifty years.

3. The facts in the recent incident must be considered against the above back- ground, and I should like to set them out shortly for your information.

4. The area concerned was formerly occupied by about sixty-five Chinese who, during 1935 to 1937, were moved into alter- native improved quarters by the Hong Kong Government, voluntarily except in three or four cases. On the liberation of Hong Kong by His Majesty's forces, it was found that the Japanese had pulled down the surrounding walls to provide materials for the Kaitak airfield, and that squatters had occupied the area, and erected huts there- on. From the point of view of the com- munity at large the area, consisting as it did of a disordered cluster of overcrowded wooden huts without proper sanitary arrangements, presented grave danger to health and a serious risk of fire.

110-149

As a

normal administrative measure of precau- tion therefore against the threat of fire and disease, the Hong Kong Government decided that the huts must be removed. Eviction notices were accordingly served on 27th November on the occupants of the huts, some fifty-four in number. The date of expiry of the notices was 11th December, 1947. The squatters failed to comply with the notices and summonses were then issued by the Court. Alternative sites were offered them and it was open to them to remove the materials of their existing huts to these sites. The case came before the Court on 16th December and eviction orders were made. A translation of the Magistrate's order and the notice offering alternative sites was published in the press on 17th December, and copies were served on the squatters on 22nd and 29th December. Eviction and dis- mantling of the huts was carried out with- out disturbance on 5th January.

5. On 7th January the Magistrate of Po On District of Kwangtung Province, adjoining Hong Kong, paid a visit to the so-called " Walled City," accompanied by several of his officials, including Health and Police advisers. A meeting was held, when he addressed the crowd under the Chinese flag. This was interpreted in the Chinese press as reaffirming Chinese sovereignty. In defiance of the Court's order, a number of huts were illegally re-erected on the former sites. Police action to move them on 12th January was met by resis- tance. As the police party approached through a narrow alley leading to the Walled City," they were met by loud shouts and a heavy barrage of stones from a crowd of over 100 persons. Several of the police were hit and the mob was obviously acting on a prearranged plan. Police efforts to quieten the mob were drowned in the clamour, and it was neces- sary for the police then to fire warning shots from revolvers into the ground.

CC

866.3

3.

Page 130Page 131