CO882-(4-5) — Page 689

9575.

SIB,

(No. 68.)

394

No. 307.

GOVERNOR SIR H. A. BLAKE to MR. CHAMBERLAIN.

(Received March 26, 1900.)

Government House, Hong Kong, February 22, 1900. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your 'despatch, No. 9, of the 11th ultimo, enclosing two copies of Her Majesty's Order in Council relating to the City of Kowloon, and to inform you that the Order in question was published in a Government Gazette Extraordinary on the 20th instant. I have, &c.,

14030.

No. 308.

HENRY A. BLAKE.

Governor, &c.,

ACTING GOVERNOR GASCOIGNE to MR. CHAMBERLAIN

(Received May 7, 1900.)

395

quarters, and it is impossible to transact public business properly. Everyone says that, although Kowloong has been leased to Great Britain, still, according to international law, if an official communication is made to the British Government, a valuation of the public offices can easily be made, and their value paid: I beg that Your Excellency will write to the British Consul that an estimate of the value of the public offices of the Colonel in Command, the first and second Captains, Lieutenants and Sergeants, the forts, the parade ground, and guard houses, &c., taken possession of in Kowloong last year, be made and their value paid over to meet the cost of erecting new offices in Ta Peng. If making an estimate and paying compensation is not consented to, then it would be considered a favour if we were permitted to pull down the buildings ourselves and convey the bricks, tiles, wood, stone, &c., to Ta Peng, there to erect yamens and guard houses for the convenience of transacting public business. That this is in ac cordance with international law cannot be disputed. The Admiral adds that, having received the above, it is his duty to forward it to me for my consideration. All the buildings of the civil and military officials and the Customs station within the limits of the territory leased at Kowloong ought to be returned to the Chinese Government, either by paying them their estimated value, or we should be allowed to pull them down and take away the material. Either of these courses would do.

I have the honour to request that you will communicate the foregoing to His Excellency the Governor of Hong Kong that satisfactory action may be taken. I trust that a reply to this despatch will be sent to me.

(Seal of Viceroy.)

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O. 882

5 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

(No. 144) SIB,

[Answered by No. 311.]

Government House, Hong Kong, April 7, 1900. WITH reference to my despatch, No. 145, of the 14th of June last, and to the 2nd paragraph of your despatch, No. 251, of the 31st October last, I have the honour to transmit, for your consideration, the enclosed extract from a despatch from the Viceroy of Canton relating to the question of giving compensation for the value of the public buildings in the leased territory.

2. In replying to this despatch from the Viceroy, I stated that I had received no instructions to make any payment for the public buildings taken over, and that I would refer the matter to the decision of Her Majesty's Government.

SIR,

(Translation.)

I have, &c.,

W. J. GASCOIGNE,

Major-General, Administering the Government.

Enclosure in No. 308.

From Viceroy LI.

March 17, 1900. I HAVE the honour to state that I am in receipt of a communication from Admiral Ho, in which he informs me that Colonel Chang Lien Chi, Acting Hsieh T'ai at Ta Peng has sent in a petition to the following effect:

The offices of the Colonel in Command at Ta Peng, of the first and second Captains, as well as the other large and small buildings were formerly established inside the walls of Kowloong-chai for the transaction of public business. On May 18th and 18th last, Englishmen suddenly entered Kowloong and Tung Chung. This has already been reported by the late Acting Colonel Li, as is on record. The officers and soldiers of the left and right regiments were ordered to return to Ta Peng city and to remain there. The Acting Colonel Li conducted the petty officers and soldiers of his com- mand to Ta Peng, and quartered them in that town. But for many years past the official buildings in Ta Peng have fallen down and there are none remaining. My office is in an ancestral temple which I have borrowed. The first and second Captains have also borrowed temples to live in. The guard houses are only established in temporary

↑ No. 268.

• No. 291.

↑ No. 223.

14030.

SIB

No. 309.

COLONIAL OFFICE to FOREIGN OFFICE. [Answered by No. 310.]

Downing Street, May 28, 1900. WITH reference to your letter of the 3rd March last, I am directed by Mr. Secretary Chamberlain to transmit to you, for the consideration of the Marquess of Salisbury, a copy of a despatcht from the Officer Administering the Government of Hong Kong, enclosing an extract from a despatch from the Viceroy of Canton in which he asks that the Chinese Government should be granted compensation for the value of the Chinese public buildings in the leased territory or should be permitted to remove the material of the buildings.

2. Mr. Chamberlain proposes with Lord Salisbury's concurrence to instruct the Officer Administering the Government to inform the Viceroy that, aceing that Her Majesty's Government were caused expense greatly in excess of the value of the buildings in question owing to the resistance offered to the occupation of the New Territory, they propose to treat the value of these buildings as a set-off against the above-mentioned expenditure, and are not therefore prepared to pay any compensation or to allow the Chinese Government to pull them down, and remove the materials.

I am, &c.,

H. BERTRAM COX.

17787.

SIR,

No. 310.

FOREIGN OFFICE to COLONIAL OFFICE.

(Received June 6, 1900.)

Foreign Office, June 4, 1900. I HAVE laid before the Marquess of Salisbury your letter 14030/1900 of the 28th ultimo, relative to a request made by the Viceroy of Canton to the Officer Administer- ing the Government of Hong Kong that the Chinese Government may be granted com- pensation for the value of the Chinese public buildings in the leased territory or be permitted to remove the material.

• No. 301.

↑ No. 308.

‡ No. 309.

!

306

Lord Balisbury concurs in the reply which Her Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies proposes to instruct Major-General Gascoigne to return to the Viceroy's request.

I am, &c.,

FRANCIS BERTIE.

17787.

(No. 178.)

No. 811.

MR. CHAMBERLAIN to GOVERNOR SIR H. A. BLAKE.

[Answered by No. 812.]

Downing Street, June 8, 1900.

I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of Major-General Gascoigne's spatch, No. 144, of the 7th April last, forwarding an extract from a despatch from Viceroy of Canton, in which he applies for compensation for the value of the public buiklings in the leased territory.

2. I request you to inform the Viceroy that in view of the fact that Her Majesty's Government were put to expense greatly in excess of the value of the buildings in question, owing to the resistance offered to the occupation of the leased territory, they propose to regard the value of these buildings as a set-off against the above-mentioned expenditure, and are not prepared to pay any compensation, nor to allow the Chinese Government to pull them down and remove the materials.

I have, &c.,

27800

No. 312.

J. CHAMBERLAIN.