39376/04.
61
The question was first raised by Sir M. Nathan
in 1904 in his despatch No. 364, of the 10th October which gives an account of the situation. Briefly it was
as follows:-
Before the New
Territories were leased to Hong Kong
there existed a house on the Anglo Chinese frontier at Kowloon where the Canton wires met and were connected with the wires of the Tastern Extension Company from Hong Kong. When the New Territories were leased, a section of the Canton Kowloon line fell consequently in British
territory. It was suggested in 1900 to the Fastern Extension Company that they should take over this section but the Director General of the Imperial Chinese Telegraphs replied that it was owned by private persons, and he had
had no ins.ructions.
2. The matter was allowed to drop until 1903 when
Sir H. Blake asked the Consul General at Shanghai to tell the Director General of the Chinese Telegraphs to remove
the terminal station from Kowloon to the new frontier
within six months. The Director General replied claiming
that the station being in the New Territories was in the
same category as the stations in Foreign Concessions in Treaty Ports he added that though the Chinese Government i controlled the line it was privately owned. This first
contention was of course rejected and the Hong Kong Government could not accept the idea that the line was
simply a commercial undertaking.
3. Sir M. Nathan went on to say that the Chinese,
Tele raph Adainistration had always had an office in Queen's Road (Hong Kong) in the same building as the Eastern Extension Company, that these were strong
ere
A
objections to allowing the Administration to continue to
operate
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