Sessional_Paper_1899 — Page 525

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Having left the elders and the custodian of the temple in the temple under the custody of a guard of soldiers, we made a visit to Pan Ch'ung (m), the village adjacent to the spot where the matsheds were erected, but the door of every house in the village was locked from the outside and not a person could be found. Even the female occupants of an isolated house not more than 200 yards away from where one of the matsheds had been burnt said they knew nothing of the affair.

The shed, where the workmen who built the sheds lived and to which Mr. MAY retreated when driven from the temple, had been burnt down and the remains were still smouldering when we arrived.

A post was found near the spot where the matsheds had been burnt down with the characters Chung Fuk Shing Hỏ (AT) on one side and Chung Fuk Shing Hó Wai (6) on the other, meaning that the site belongs to Chung Fuk Shing (), which shows that the man claimed the property

as his own.

The elders who had been left in the temple were brought down to the point on the shore where the burnt shed had been erected.

On their arrival His Excellency the General Officer Commanding addressed them stating that soldiers despatched by the Viceroy would arrive shortly and deal with those who had been guilty of attacking Mr. MAY and his party and of burning the natshed, ar that His Excellency the Governor would take over the territory on the 17th instant, when any disturbance would be promptly suppressed and the rioters punished.

The elders then retired.

H.M.S. Fame and two torpedo boats arrived after the troops had landed. The party re-embarked on board H.M.S. Whiting and Fame and, having started at 2.20 p.m., reached Hongkong at 4.40 p.m.

J. H. STEWART LOCKHART, Colonial Secretary.

SIR,

ENCLOSURE No. 3 IN GOVERNOR'S DESPATCH OF THE 7TH APRIL, 1899.

(From Major-General W. J. Gascoigne to Ilis Excellency the Governor.)

HONGKONG, 5th April, 1899.

I have the honour to report for Your Excellency's information that about midnight on 3rd and 4th April, 1899, I received a communication from Your Excellency informing me that Mr. MAY, Captain Superintendent of Police, was hemmed in by a crowd of unfriendly natives in the neighbourhood of Tái pó Hü and that be required to be at once released. I at once communicated with Lieutenant-Colonel MAINWARING. Commanding 2nd Battalion Royal Welch Fusi- liers, who arrived at Head-Quarter House in a remarkably short time. Subse- quently at about 1.50 a.m., I received from Your Excellency the attached order* to send troops to relieve Mr. MAY. I ordered out 100 men of the Royal Welch to be at Murray Pier in an hour's time to be ready to embark in any craft which could be prepared at so short a notice. At 2.30 a.m. the men were at Murray Pier ready for embarkation with food and ammunition. Owing to Your Excellency's forethought I found a number of police launches ready at the Pier, and having, by means of them, ascertained that 11.M.S. Whiting was able to accommodate the whole party and that H.M.S. Fame could not be ready till 4.30 a.m., I ordered the troops to embark on H.M.S. Whiting, and H.M.S. Fame to follow later as a des- patch boat. I, with my staff, accompanied the troops on the Whiting. The Colonial Secretary, Honourable Mr. STEWART LOCKHART met me on the Pier and informed me that it was Your Excellency's desire that he should first proceed to Kowloon City to confer with the head man there; get an interpreter, and then proceed with me in the Whiting which was to wait for him at Kowloon City. Mr. STEWART LOCKHART accomplished his mission in a remarkably short time and came on board at 4.30 am, and we at once started. The night was exceedingly foggy; so thick

* Enclosure No. 1.

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