CO129-604-5 Immigration- control over entry from China 4-3-1948 - 6-1-1949 — Page 29

FOREIGN OFFICE, S.W.1.

22nd October 1948.

(F 14333/154/10)

RESTRICTED

RECEIVED

23 OCT 1948

10

29

(1)

(9) on 247

Dear Wallace,

COLONIAL OFFICE

Thank you for your letter 54064/48 of the 12th October enclosing copies of a memorandum by your Legal Advisers about the alleged right of Chinese to enter or settle in Hong Kong.

I have discussed the matter with our Legal Advisers, and I can now tell you that we are in general agreement with the arguments and conclusions reached in the memorandum.

In particular I am advised that the contentions in paragraph III (b) make it clear that the Chinese Govern- ment would not gain support for claiming the right of entry or settlement for their nationals from the terms of the Proclamation of 7th June 1841, and that the correct interpretation of Article XIII of the Supplementary Treaty of 1843 is that it was designed to limit Chinese restrictions on commercial intercourse, and that it does not confer an express right of persons "whether natives of China or otherwise" to enter Hong Kong. This view of Article XIII receives confirmation from the terms of a proclamation of the Chinese High Commissioner Keying on behalf of the Imperial Chinese Government, for which please see State Papers, Volume XXXI, page 139.

1

The conclusions set out in my letter to Mayle (F 13412/376/10) of the 23rd October 1947 were of course founded on the view that the Proclamation of June 1841

/remained

W.I.J. Wallace Esq.,

Colonial Office.