CO537-6049 — Page 51

38

CHINA

point of view of the community at large the area, consisting as it did of a dis- ordered cluster of overcrowded wooden huts without proper sanitary arrange- ments, presented grave danger to health and a serious risk of fire. As a normal administrative measure of precaution 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 sum- monses 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 dismantling of the huts was carried out without 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 resistance. 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 necessary for the police then to fire warning shots from revolvers into the ground. These warnings were without effect on the crowd and tear smoke was then used, which had the desired effect of dispersing the crowd. The police were then able to remove the huts in accordance with their orders. Six persons were later, I regret to state, discovered to have received hurts, five suffering minor injuries and one having an abdominal wound from a bullet, most probably by an accidental ricochet. The last-named, according to latest reports, is now out of danger. I would particularly draw your Excellency's attention to the fact that the police were outside the so-called Kowloon City when they were attacked. Some of the attackers were inside and some outside the city, but it is impossible to say with certainty whether the casualties referred to were sustained inside or outside it.

6. During the course of the first eviction two individuals were arrested who attempted to intimidate the workmen engaged in dismantling the huts and to incite the squatters to resist the police in the execution of their duty. These two were Chu Pui Tong, chairman of the Kowloon City Residents' Association, described as a farmer, and Lau Ngai Fu, described as partner in a knitting factory. They were brought before the Kowloon Magistrate's Court on 13th January, and after trial were sentenced each to three months' hard labour for inciting persons to resist the police in the execution of their duty. They indicated that they were going to appeal to the Supreme Court at Hong Kong. It is understood that they have not, in fact, done so. Lau Ngai Fu, in cross examination, admitted that he had previously been in the 156th Division of the Chinese army, attached to the Political Propaganda Section.

7. You will observe from the facts detailed above that the Hong Kong Government gave ample notice to the squatters and made alternative sites avail- able, and not until court notices had been served and ignored was action taken by the police on 5th January. Moreover, the eviction was carried out on that date without incident. There then supervened the Po On magistrate's visit to Kowloon City on 7th January, following which a considerable number of squatters returned, encouraged thereto by agitators and by Po On officials. At the same time exaggerated and misleading reports appeared in some sections of the Chinese language press, notably in the National Times, which it is understood receives a subsidy from the Kuomintang, the predominant part in the Chinese Government. The consequence was that, when the Hong Kong Government met the challenge to their authority and took steps on 12th January to clear the site again, the police escorting the working party met with organised resistance and were com- pelled to use force. For that the chief responsibility must be attributed to the Chinese language press in Hong Kong and in China, which for weeks past had been sedulously fanning the spark of anti-British agitation and to the provocative action of the Po On magistrate referred to above. I would emphasise in this