CO885-11 — Page 63

63

114

pickets tried to restrain his men, but was intimidated by them into submission. Eventually he took refuge in British Territory.

On September 27th a further raid by armed pickets was made The on this shop, and 12 pigs and more property were stolen. total value of the pigs and property stolen was estimated at over $7,300.

On October 4th the Assistant Superintendent of Police, New Territories, reported that British Sha Tau Kok was in the hands of the strikers, and that it was impossible for the police to ven- ture there. The trains stopped at the police station, about a mile from the village. This state of affairs continued for a month until on November 7th, when His Excellency the Governor per- sonally visited the scene, on his instructions British Sha Tau Kok The was reoccupied by two companies of the 2nd Punjabis. strikers, about 200 in number, fled without resistance, and a detachment of 30 men was quartered near the railway station. Although the station was badly damaged the normal train service was immediately resumed. The Yuen Tai Tsan shop, which was raided on September 23rd and September 27th, was found to be completely ransacked.

19. On November 6th, about mid-day, the police motor-boat No. 11 while patrolling the Sham Chun River (British waters) opposite the Sheung Po Temple was fired upon by men concealed in bushes on the Chinese side of the river. About 30 shots were fired of which 8 struck the boat.

20. On October 31st armed men operating in boats on Deep Bay (British waters) seized an oyster-boat belonging to an in- habitant of Shek Po, Ping Shan, British Territory.

21. On November 14th a fishing boat from Un Long, British Territory, was fired at by another boat in Deep Bay (British waters).

22. On November 23rd, about mid-day, a number of coolies carrying padi were held up by an armed picket in British Territory near Lok Ma Chau and robbed.

23. On November 23rd, at 10.30 a.m., the police motor patrol launch on the Sham Chun River (British waters) was fired at near Lok Ma Chau by men concealed in the bushes on the Chinese side.

24. On December 1st, three Chinese women were robbed on the Ta Ku Ling Road in British Territory, and the sum of $3,00 in small money was taken.

25. On December 1st, near the Sham Chun River, at San Uk Ling, in British Territory, Sub-Inspector Barnett, of the Hong- kong Police, was fired at by three men. The men are supposed to have been those concerned in the robbery of the three women mentioned in paragraph 24.

115

26. On December 3rd, 1925, two platoons of the 5th/2nd Punjabis, under the command of Captain J. M. Hunt, marching along the frontier from Lo Wu to Ta Ku Ling, in British Terri- The fire was tory, were fired on by a party of 30 or 40 men. returned.

27. On December 9th, a Chinese police officer who was inside a shop in British Sha Tau Kok was fired at by a Chinese named Wong Chun Wa, standing outside the shop. The man subse- quently escaped, and efforts to induce the Canton authorities to deal with the man have had no effect.

28. On December 14th. No. 11 police motor-boat was fired on at the Lok Ma Chau Ferry.

C.7276/26.

No. 9.

The Governor of Hongkong to the, Secretary of State for the Colonies!

No. 71.

SIR,

(Received 31st March, 1926.)

Government House, Hongkong, 18th February, 1926.

In continuation of my previous despatches on the subject of the boycott and political strike declared by Canton against British interests in Hongkong and South China, I have the honour to draw your attention to the manner in which treaty rights have been infringed during the course of those two movements.

2. These breaches of treaty rights are all the more intolerable because His Majesty's Government, actuated by feelings of the greatest friendliness and goodwill towards China, have quite recently recognised that the treaties between Great Britain and China need revision, and representatives of His Majesty's Government are now actually engaged in conference with the representatives of China and of other Powers in considering, inter alia, that very revision. One would have expected at this juncture a scrupulous observance of existing treaty rights instead of the present flagrant disregard of the most reasonable treaty obligations.

3. The contrast in this respect between the Government of Canton and the authorities of Central and North China is very marked. The Canton Government, inspired by Bolshevist in. trigue and animated by the Bolshevist ideal of creating disorder in every territory but its own, naturally seizes on this opportunity of endeavouring to create an atmosphere unfavourable to friend- liness and conciliation.

. PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :--

THETIC.O.882/11

لسا

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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