CO129-609-5 Future policy- Press accounts of Chinese unrest over Kowloon evictions 19-1-1948 - 16-3-1948 — Page 81

RIOTOUS MOB IN CANTON

Tweets

SHAMEEN ISLAND

ATTACKED

BRITISH CONSULATE

BURNED

CANTON, Jan 16.-A mob of several thousand Chinese attacked the British Consulate here to-day, setting the building, on fire and destroying it, and slightly in- juring the Vice-Consul, Mr. J. K. Black- well. The attack was believed to be part] of anti-British demonstrations which have followed an announcement that thel Chinese Government had protested to Britain against prison sentences imposed in Hongkong on two Chinese. These men had been charged with resisting the police who were evacuating Chinese from build- ings condemned for public health reasons in the Old City of Kowloon, on the main- land of Hongkong colony.

The crowd crossed two bridges from Canton to Shameen Island in the Pearl River, and

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demonstrated outside the offices in the walled compound of the British Consulate in the former British and French concession. Stones were thrown, and the building was set alight and completely destroyed. Furniture, docu- ments, and clothing were thrown into the fire. The crowd then burned the house of the British Consul-General, Mr. R. Hall (it is not known if he was there), and the house of the Press Attaché, Mr. J. Murray, who lived at the consulate with Mrs. Murray. Next they burned the offices of Butterfield and Swire, in which the British information department was housed. Other buildings were also attacked. Among those burned and destroyed were the premises of the Chartered Bank and Jardine Mathieson. All the consular staff were reported safe, but the British Vice-Consul, Mr. J. K. Blackwell, suffered slight injuries. Mr. L. B. Wood and Mr. J. H. Parkhouse, on the staff of Deacons, and Mr. V. Curtis were slightly hurt.

Three hours later, gendarmes, police, and fire brigades arrived and the Chinese left the island. Everything was later reported to be quiet, but the foreign community of about 150, mostly British and American, were remain- ing indoors.

Shameen has now been placed under martial law. Reuter.

HONGKONG, Jan. 17.-An airliner of Hong- kong Airways took off from here early to-day for Canton to evacuate 20 British women children.-Reuter.

BRITISH PROTEST IN NANKING

CHINESE REGRETS

FROM OUR DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENT

Sir Ralph Stevenson, British Ambassa-' dor in Nanking, has protested to the Chinese Government against the outburst in Canton, and has asked the Chinese authorities to take immediate preventive measures in Canton and elsewhere.

Chinese officials in London expressed their sincere regrets last night at the Canton dis- turbances. At the same time they recalled that their Government had repeatedly urged the British Hongkong authorities to use tact and restraint in dealing with the squatters in Kowloon. Kowloon has become something of a centre for Communists and other political opponents of the Chinese Government, which feared that these extreme groups would use any forcible British action as the pretext for anti-British and anti-Government disturbances elsewhere. The Chinese Government, in short, feared from the beginning that events in Kow- loon could not be kept local.

The Hongkong Government gave warning last year that hutments in Kowloon where some hundreds of squatters were living would have to be pulled down; there was a danger to public health and the risk of fire. Alternative accommodation was offered. Towards the end of the year the people were ordered to leave because they were illegally occupying Crown land.

STONES AND TEAR-GAS

On January 5 the huts were pulled down without disturbance, but during the following week they were partly put together again by the people. When, on January 12, another attempt was made to clear the area, a crowd attacked the police with stones. The police replied by firing into the air and by using tear-gas. In the scuffles five Chinese were slightly injured and one more seriously; according to the Chinese this last person has died. Two agitators were arrested and, after trial, were sentenced to three months' hard labour. The Foreign Office stated last night that the men were tried at the request of the Chinese authorities, but! the Chinese Government now appear to be asking for their release.

There is a legal complication in the matter, for the Chinese Government contest the British jurisdiction in Kowloon City. By the Con- vention of Peking, 1898, Chinese jurisdiction was reserved even though the territory was. leased to Britain. But in the following year, after the Chinese police had abused their power, the British took over the jurisdiction and that arrangement has continued except for the break in the war. The Chinese themselves have hitherto acknowledged the de facto situation, while reserving their rights under the Peking Convention.

Their appeals for restraint in Kowloon were, however, chiefly based on their fears that feel- ing would run high and disturbances might spread. Especially after the war the "squatters throughout China can hardly be numbered, and the authorities have not been able to deal with them for the most part. The Hongkong Government, for their part, were mindful of the risk of disease, and they took, in the words of a Colonial Office statement last night, exactly the sort of action which any public health authority would take in this country."

44

नौज

Times

17 JAN 1948

Ms WIJ Wallac

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4535.

Mr Maryle

4.834.