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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

TTIC.O. 882

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

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perience in the work of land settlement, you should communicate with the Governor of the Straits Settlements, who will, I doubt not, be able to place at your disposal the services of a duly qualified officer with the necessary experience, from either the Colony or the Federated Malay States. I have intimated to Sir Charles Mitchell that he may expect to receive a communication from you on the subject.

35. I entirely agree with Mr. Lockhart that the question of titles to land should be settled as early as possible, and, in order to expedite the work of registration, holders of land should be allowed to register their titles at an office in the new territory, instead of having to waste time by coming to an office in Victoria. The officer, moreover, who is entrusted with the duty of settling the land titles should within reason be given for the time being full powers to deal with all questions of the kind that may come before him. When all the land titles have been settled, and proper surveys made, the principal land office will be in Hong Kong itself. The examination into titles should not be of too technical a nature, and where lengthened occupation or improvements can be shown, with no adverse claims from private individuals, a Government title should be granted, even if no other is forthcoming. Security for all reasonable rights in regard to land will be a great inducement to content and loyalty, and to the popularising of British rule.

96. The land question, however, by no means ends here, and there will be much left to consider after the preliminary survey is completed. The land tax will no doubt be at first the principal source of revenue, and it should be distinctly understood from the first that, as the land becomes more valuable, the tax will be subject to revision at intervals of years. It will also be necessary to consider what shall be the tenure of Crown land. Seeing that the territory is held under lease for ninety-nine years, the question of freehold grants does not arise, and the land should be leased for stated periods, not exceeding the term which I have laid down in the case of the present Colony, with powers of resumption on fair terms if the public service requires it.

97.

In dealing with the question of what laws of Hong Kong should be extended to the new territory I have not made any reference to the administration of the criminal law. In this matter I should wish you to be guided generally by the recommendations made by Mr. Lockhart at p. 14 [47] of his report. I agree with Mr. Lockhart that the existing village organisations should be maintained and utilised, and I approve of the immediate appointment of an itinerant magistrate, as suggested. I shall be glad if you will at once select an officer for provisional appointment in this capacity. An appeal should lie to the itinerant magistrate from the village tribunals, and from him to the Governor, this latter course being preferable, in my opinion, to an appeal to the Supreme Court. An Ordinance will be necessary, framed on the lines of the Ceylon Ordinance No. 24 of 1889, to legalise and define the powers of the village and district

councils or tribunals.

38. I have now touched upon what appear to me to be the most important questions for your immediate consideration. You will gather from what I have said that while I differ from some of the conclusions at which Mr. Lockhart has arrived, I nevertheless concur generally in the recommendations which he has made in his report. Although I am unable to entertain the idea of a separate administration of the new territory under a Resident Commissioner, I consider it highly desirable that Mr. Lockhart should be generally associated with its administration; and with this object in view, he should, for the next six months at any rate, be relieved as far as possible from the ordinary duties of Colonial Secretary and Registrar-General. It will probably be desirable that he should be permanently relieved of the duties of the latter office, but on this subject I will address you later.

89. Whatever other provisional appointments may be rendered necessary by these arrangements, I must leave for the present in your hands.

40. You will take care in fixing by Proclamation under clause 3 of the Order in Council the date from which the laws of Hong Kong are to be in force in the new terri- tory to give time for the enactment of the Ordinance excluding such of those laws as it is intended to exalude. You will necessarily be guided by your communications with Her Majesty's Minister at Pekin and by other circumstances in fixing the date for publishing the Order in Council; and whenever the date is actually decided upon, you should inform me by telegraph, so that the Order in Council may be published simul- taneously in this country. It will then only remain for you to formally enter upon the

• No. 61.

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occupation of the new territory, and I enclose a copy of a draft Proclamation which has been drawn up by Mr. Lockhart, and which, if you see no objection, it would be desirable to publish in every district.

41. I hope that in the foregoing observations I have succeeded in conveying to you a general expression of my views on this important and interesting subject. But there is much that must necessarily be left to yourself, and I feel that I have been unable to do more than give you an outline of the policy which it is desirable that you should pursue. I have, however, every confidence in your ability to carry the undertaking to a successful issue; and I will conclude with an expression of my congratulations to you on finding yourself in the position of the representative of Her Majesty the Queen on the occasion of the assumption of jurisdiction over this most important addition to Her Majesty's dominions.

42. This despatch, like Mr. Lockhart's report which it encloses, is confidential, but

you wish to publish portions of it, I give you discretion to do so.

should

I have, &c.,

J. CHAMBERLAIN.

Enclosure in No. 62.

At the Court at Balmoral, the 20th day of October, 1898.

PRESENT:

The Queen's Most Excellent Majesty in Council.

Whereas by a convention dated the 9th day of June 1898 between Her Majesty and his Imperial Majesty the Emperor of China, it is provided that the limits of British territory in the regions adjacent to the Colony of Hong Kong, shall be enlarged under lease to Her Majesty in the manner described in the said convention.

And whereas it is expedient to make provision for the government of the territories acquired by Her Majesty under the said Convention, during the continuance of the said lease.

It is hereby ordered by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice of Her Majesty's Privy Council, as follows:—

1. The territories within the limits and for the term described in the said Con- vention shall be and the same are hereby declared to be part and parcel of Her Majesty's Colony of Hong Kong in like manner and for all intents and purposes as if they had originally formed part of the said Colony.

2. It shall be competent for the Governor of Hong Kong, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council of the said Colony, to make laws for the peace, order and good government of the said territories as part of the Colony.

3. From a date to be fixed by proclamation of the Governor of Hong Kong, all laws and ordinances which shall at such date be in force in the Colony of Hong Kong shall take effect in the said territories, and shall remain in force therein until the same shall have been altered or repealed by Her Majesty or by the Governor of Hong Kong, by and with the advice or consent of the Legislative Council.

4. Notwithstanding anything herein contained the Chinese officials now stationed within the city of Kowloon shall continue to exercise jurisdiction therein, except in so far as may be inconsistent with the military requirements for the defence of Hong Kong, And the Right Honourable Joseph Chamberlain, one of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, is to give the necessary directions herein accordingly.

A. W. FITZROY,^^.

. No. 1.

K

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