CO129-552-8 Kowloon city- expropriation of Chinese property 2-1-1935 - 1-8-1935 — Page 29

29

+1-e. the Briksh

Peminenka

Following this revocation of the special

status of the City of Kowloon it was therefore the

the walled city

case that in

en no less than elsewhere in the

"New Territories" all the laws of Hong Kong applied

and the Governor's jurisdiction was in no way

specially limited.

x -

X

In the revival of Chinese nationalist

sentiment after the War an irredentist attitude

regarding the "New Territories" of Hong Kong has

mildly manifested itself. The development of

Kowloon into a large modern city with wide streets

of stone buildings has reached and passed the old

Chinese walled city and it has for some time been

clear that the continued existence of that small area

could not long be exempted from the building and

town-planning developments in the surrounding area.

The leases of the small Chinese pig-keepers and

others who reside in the area expired at the end of

1933 and the Govt. resolved not to renew the leases

but to allow a year's grace for the inhabitants to

take up other (and superior) accommodation elsewhere

on favourable terms.

The intention was to devote

part at any rate of the walled city site to be laid

out as a public park. This provided the occasion

for an agitation to be whipped up amongst certain

Chinese in Canton and the walled city against an

alleged infringement of Chinese rights in the area,

based upon the Anglo-Chinese Convention of 1898.

The position in the walled city and the intentions

Confidential of the Govt. are set out in the Governor's despatch of gots Jan. 1934.

No.1 in 33744/34 The Foreign Office (No.3 in the-

same fite) gave us their views as regards the strength

A

and