CO537-3711 — Page 67

of trustees composed of an equal number of

Chinese and British officials.

In these

negotiations, however, the question arose as to

what law should apply and what court should have

jurisdiction if an offence should be committed

in the Gardens, and as the Chinese insisted that

the jurisdiction should be theirs the attempts

at settlement were unsuccessful. It now appears

to be quite clear that nothing short of the

actual exercise of jurisdiction will be acceptable

to the Chinese. The surrender of jurisdiction

to the Chinese is not acceptable to H.M.G.

19.

Both

It has been proposed that a suggestion

should be made to the Chinese Government that f

they wish further to challenge the exercise of

jurisdiction by the Hong Kong Government over

Kowloon City, they should submit the dispute

to the International Court of Justice.

China and the United Kingdom have made declarat

tions under Article 36 of the Statute of the

International Court of Justice accepting its.

compulsory jurisdiction.

made on the 26th October, 1946, for a period of

five years contains no reservations except that

it is made on the sole conditions of reciprocity.

The declaration of the United Kingdom, made on

the 28th February, 1940, for a period five years

on a basis of reciprocity, remains in force until

notice of termination is given.

20.

The Chinese declaration

The United Kingdom declaration applies

only to disputes arising after 5th February,

1930, with regard to situations or facts sub-

sequent to the same date. The present dispute,

therefore, is excluded and the dispute could only

be adjudicated by the International Court of

Justice with the consent of the United Kingdom

In /

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