ENG-1958 — Page 365

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HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT

Government correspondence from the first year of the Colony's existence.

EXTENSIONS TO THE COLONY, 1860-99

By the Convention of Peking, 1860, which concluded the Second Anglo-Chinese War, Kowloon peninsula up

peninsula up to present-day Boundary Street was ceded to the Crown and became part of the Colony, together with Stonecutters Island.

Permanent quarters were established in Kowloon for part of the garrison. This development was followed by the construction of new docks, more extensive than could be attempted on the Victoria waterfront, and which were the beginning of Kowloon's develop- ment as the Colony's second city. The pioneers in residential development in Kowloon were the Portuguese, followed by the Parsees, from about 1870 onwards.

By the Convention of Peking, 1898, at the conclusion of the third period of hostilities between China and the Western Powers, the Colony was again extended, acquiring under a 99-year lease a substantial stretch of mainland north of Kowloon, and a group of islands in the immediate vicinity of Hong Kong. The leased area became known as the New Territories.

The initial British occupation, which took place in 1899, met with some ill-organized armed opposition in the Tai Po and Yuen Long areas, but the confidence of the people was quickly estab- lished. Sir Henry Blake (Governor 1898-1904) personally identified himself with every aspect of the life of the Colony's new rural population, obtaining improved seed and types of livestock for them; and the relations between the Government and the people of the New Territories have ever since been distinguished by the closest confidence and goodwill. Malaria was widespread, and plague of frequent occurrence. Extensive health measures were introduced to combat these diseases, the success of the measures being reflected in a subsequent steady rise in population.

In the first decade of this century rail connexion between Kowloon and Canton was established, involving the construction of a long tunnel under the Kowloon hills, and providing Tai Po and other New Territories villages with easy access to Hong Kong. A circular road was constructed linking the chief population areas