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When a territory that was not part of Her Majesty's dominions was under UK administration, it was more usual to have a High Commissioner rather than a Governor but such territories as Tanganyika and the Aden Protectorate had Governors. I suppose that the High Commissioner or Governor of such a territory was "Her Majesty's representative" to the extent that Her Majesty was exercising power and jurisdiction in the territory. The inhabitants of such a territory were British Protected Persons rather than Citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies.
2. I know of no instance when a territory forming part of Her Majesty's dominions was divested of that status and yet remained under UK administration, thus the question of letting the inhabitants retain citizenship of the UK and colonies or alternatively of converting them into BPPS has not, I believe, arisen.
3. I imagine that the office has given some theoretical consideration to divesting Gibraltar and the Falkland Islands of their status as colonies while still maintaining some sort of sole or joint British administration.
4.
There was a joint administration in the Sudan and in the New Hebrides, but neither was ever part of Her Majesty's dominions.
5. One possibility would I suppose be for the UK to surrender Hong Kong as a whole to China in 1997 on the understanding that it would immediately be leased to the UK for an indefinite period terminable by, say, fifteen years' notice on either side. If so, it could remain part of Her Majesty's dominions for the duration of the lease and the colonial set-up could be maintained. There would obviously have to be some sort of agreement between the UK and China for this purpose, but I am not sure that it would need to be of a formal character so long as the UK and China reached a clear understanding that could be made public. The 1898 Order might have to be amended but it might conceivably be possible to avoid an Act of Parliament at any rate until the new lease was about to expire.
6. A device of this kind would of course give China a "residual" sovereignty over Hong Kong that the United Kingdom could acknowledge. It is difficult for the UK to acknowledge a residual Chinese sovereignty over Hong Kong (apart from the New Territories) as it is at present, since the United Kingdom has complete sovereignty and there is no residuum to be
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