THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 26TH AUGUST, 1899. 1393
On the first day the T'ai Ping Kung Kuk (lit. Great-Peace-Public - Meeting House) was established, the intention of those who established it being to create a scare by empty bluster; but pretence became reality (ie., at first they did not intend to offer active resistance but only to pretend to do so).
On the 3rd (12th April), (Major) FoxG Ux arrived in a gunboat. The people at Castle Peak stubbornly resisted him with force. The inhabitants of the Sháp Pát Heung district refused to send out men. The three large villages (ie., Kam Tin, Ha Ts'ün and Ping Shán) inhabited by the Tang clan used coercion saying that if men were not sent the villages refusing would be attacked first, so that the small villages in the Sháp Pát Heung district inhabited by those who are not of the Tang clan were forced to comply.
On the 5th (14th April). TANG I-SHEK went to Nam Tau.
On the 6th (15th April), he went to Canton. Each village district sub- scribed 15 taels. (The writer) NG KI-CH'EUNG said, "It is useless to present petitions to the Viceroy and Governor. Their only answer would be that the demarcation is in accordance with the Tsung-li Yamên map."
All the other villages agreed with the proposal of TANG I-SHEK and the Sháp Pát Heung district was compelled to contribute its proportionate share.
TANG I-SHEK took with him 60 táels and has not returned since.
On the 5th (14th April), when the matshed was burnt at Tái po the men present were from Fan Ling and Lam Ts'ün. The men from Kam Tin and Pát Heung arrived after the shed had been burnt.
On the 6th (15th April) when resistance was offered to the Police at Tái pó the men present were from the Lam Ts'in, Sheung Ủ and Pát Henng and Kam Tin
divisions.
On the 8th (17th April) those who offered resistance were from Kam Tin, Sháp Pát Heung, and Pát Heung
On the 9th (18th April), those present were from Ping Shán, Ha Ts'ün, Castle Peak, Wang Chau, and the following places outside (the territory): --Sham Chun, Sha T'au and Wái Tak and Ngán Tin in the Tung Kan district. Many were killed and wounded.
On the 4th (13th April), P'ing Shán supplied pigs (for the fighters).
On the 6th (15th April) Ha Ts'ün.
On the 7th (16th April) Wang Chau.
This is a true account of the whole matter from beginning to end.
With regard to Tang Cheung-tsAI, TANG TSING-SZ and TANG A-NIN of the Ha Ts'in district pointed him out as a traitor. They also said that TANG CHEUNG- TSAI had taken the iron armour belonging to this district to Hongkong and that they would not rest until he had been killed. They took the card of TANG KWOK- LAM to Ping Shán and applied for some able-bodied men to search CHEUNG Tsai's house, but TANG Pó-WAN being a near relation of CHEUNG TSAI flared up at once, so they desisted.
On the 8th (17th April), he was arrested at Kap Shui Mun and brought back to the meeting-house at Un Long.
The gentry of Ha Ts'ün said CHEUNG TSAI belongs to the Ha Ts'ün district : let Ha Tsiin deal with the matter. All the other villages raised no objection.
TANG TSING-SZ and TANG CHIK-TING took many of those who came to fight from Ngan Tin and went to Ün Long to get back CHEUNG TSAI. This was after the defeat and every one had fled and there was no one in the meeting-house. As to what order TANG TSING-SZ gave regarding the inurder of TANG CHEUNG-TSAI (the writer) really does not know the facts.
II.
(Sd.)
NG KI CHEUNG.
ENCLOSURE No. 2 IN COLONIAL SECRETARY'S MINUTE OF THE 24TH APRIL, 1899.
(Statement of Tang Kok-lam, Graduate of the 3rd Degree, elder of Kam T'in district.)
On the 17th of the 2nd moon (28th March.) Me. Mar wished to erect a police station on the hill behind Ping Shán, the inhabitants of which became ex- cited and appeared to be dissatisfied.
On the 18th (29th March) in the morning a meeting was held in the ancestral temple. After the morning meal the gentry went to Ha Ts'ün to ineet and discuss
the matter.
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