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Mr. Ormsby's very valuable report, and a photograph of the map supplied by him to Mr. Lockhart, with a tracing of the proposed boundary line.

I have, &c.,

W. BLACK,

Major-General, Administering the Government.

Enclosure 1 in No. 34.

(Extract.)

The area of the territory as shown on the Convention map is as follows:-

Square Miles.

Acres.

Mainland Islands

286 90

376

183,040

57,600

240,640

83

This boundary is well known to the inhabitants, and its only objectionable feature would be its length.

Failing this, I would suggest that the boundary could be that of the Sun On District from the point where it leaves Bias Bay on the north of Mira Bay to the prominent Mountain of Ng-tung-shan above the head of Starling Inlet, and then following the ridges of a chain of low hills close to the parallel of 22° 35′ north latitude to the shore of the mes north of the chief town of the Sun On District.

If neither of the above can be arranged, I would suggest the line shewn on the annexed map, taking in a yard of land above high-water mark from the point where the meridian 114° 30′ cuts the head of Mirs Bay to where a ridge from Ng-tung-shan runs down to the shore of Starling Inlet, then to the top of Ng-tung-shan, and from there following the ridge of the low range immediately bounding the Sam Chun Valley until it reaches the s08. The Western boundary should be the meridian of 113° 50′, and not 118° 52′, so as to take in the whole of Lantao Island.

21255.

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O. 882

If the boundary is fixed further North, so as to take in all that part of the Sun On district bordering on Mirs Bay, and the whole of the Sam-Chun Valley as recommended in this report, the following areas will be added

Mainland Islands

Square Miles.

Acres.

203

6

129,920 3,840

209

133,760

SIR,

No. 35.

COLONIAL OFFICE to SIB C. C. SMITH.

Downing Street, October 4, 1898.

I AM directed by the Secretary of State for the Colonias to acknowledge, with his best thanks, the receipt of your memorandum of the 19th ultimo,* on the subject of the proposed customs arrangements in connection with the new territory to be added to the Colony of Hong Kong.

22163.

No. 36.

I am, &c.,

FRED. GRAHAM.

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH~NOT TO

5 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

Making a total of 585 square miles or 374,400 acres.

NEW BOUNDary Line,

The boundary line indicated on the small scale map which is attached to the Conven- tion, and which was copied by the leading London papers, is the shortest line from sea to sea that could be found, measuring in a direct line on the map only 11 miles. The actual distance, however, following the tidal river from Deep Bay up to Sam Chun, and then taking the existing path up to Starling Inlet head, is about 13 miles.

This line cuts the rich valley in the centre of which Sham Chun lies in two, and is, therefore, open to much objection. The villages which abound in this valley are linked together by mutual interests and family ties. They are separated, as far as the river extends, by only about 100 feet of a tidal stream, and from Sam Chun to Starling Inlet by no natural boundary. They all look to Sam Chun as their central and most important market town, to which they resort to dispose of their surplus produce and to purchase imported goods. It seems to me that much difficulty might arise if villages one side of a road or stream were under English rule, and those on the other under Chinese.

The main industry of the valley, moreover, is the cultivation of rice, for which an ample and constant supply of water is essentially necessary. In dry seasons disputes us to water rights between English and Chinese villages would inevitably arise, and prove difficult of settlement.

The natural and proper boundary between two countries should be either a wide and deep river, or the ridges of the hills forming the watersheds of different valleys.

It is intended that the waters of Mira Bay and of Deep Bay should be British, which

I understand makes it necessary that Great Britain should also hold a strip of territory above high-water mark, however narrow.

Looking at the map, it therefore seems desirable that, if possible, England should lease from China the whole of the Sun On District, the boundary of which seems to follow the ridges of a chain of mountains.

SIB,

COLONIAL OFFICE to FOREIGN OFFICE.

Downing Street, October 6, 1898. WITH reference to previous correspondence on the subject of the recent extension of territory at Hong Kong, I am directed by the Secretary of State for the Colonies to transmit to you, to be laid before the Marquess of Salisbury, a copy of a despatch† from the Officer Administering the Government of Hong Kong, forwarding an extract from a report by the Director of Public Works on the boundary line of the leased territory.

I am to request that the map, which is sent in original, may be returned to this Office.

22571.

SIR,

No. 37.

I am, &c.,

H. BERTRAM COX.

..

FOREIGN. OFFICE to COLONIAL OFFICE.

(Received October 10, 1808.)

Foreign Office, October 8, 1888. I AM directed by the Marquess of Salisbury to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the let instant,† and to state to you, for the information of the Secretary of State for the Colonies, that His Lordship concurs in the terms of the additional clause which it is proposed to embody in the draft Order in Council for the incorporation in the Colony of Hong Kong of the territory recently leased from the Chinese Government.

I am, &c.,

T. H. SANDERSON.

• No. 28.

↑ No. 34.

638

No. 33.

34