CO537-3711 — Page 35

Foreign Office, May, 1948.

Paragraphs from Draft Case for Submiasion

to the Law Officers of the Crown.

2. Kowloon City is a small part (61 acres in

size) of the area, leased by China to Great

Britain by a Convention of 9th June, 1898, and

forming an extension of the territory of Hong

Kong. The City is uituated about a quarter of

a mile from the seashore and is near the Kai Tak

aerodrome. It is 20 miles on the British side

of the boundary between the leased territories

and China. (Additional information is given in

paragraphs 1 and 2 of Paver A. No. 1; a map of

Kowloon City is attached as Paper A, No. 2).

11.

Between 1933 and 1937 there were exchanges

of correspondence (Paper E, No. 2 attached)

between H.M.G. and the Chinese Government, but

in the result neither retreated from their

position.

The Chinese interpretation of the

Convention of 1898, as set out in Notes of the

28th June and 27th July, 1933 and repeated later

JI

(Paper & No. 2 pages.70€!?.. Huthee) was that

only areas outside Kowloon city had been leased,

the city itself being retained under Chinese

control, and that accordingly H.K.O. had no

authority to order the evacuation of the

residents. The Chinese Government relied, in

support of this interpretation, upon the words

in Article 2 of the Convention of 1898 "within

the remainder of the newly leased territory

Great Britain shall have sole jurisdiction".

They requested the cancellation of the decision

to evacuate. In a memorandum dated 14th August,

1934, H..0. pointed out that the scheme for

evacuation/

Page 35Page 36