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12 The Expiring Lease C i evelopment , get up and go, has been an abiding theme in th e I lif e of Hong Kong from the moment on a cold winter morning / o f 2 6 January 184 1 when Captai n Ellio t too k possession . There was nowhere to live, but within a matter of months th e first houses and offices had been built along the foreshore. Behind them, steep, treeless hillsides strewn with huge granite boulders reache d up to the skyline ridge of the island. A trace, following a track along th e foreshore, was laid out for th e Queen's Road whose winding route, no w far from the waters of the harbour, remains even today a crowded principal transport artery. Beyond th e harbou r i n whic h th e merchan t an d nava l ship s la y a t anchor was the enticing land of the Kowloon Peninsula. It was not lon g after 184 1 that unsanctioned expansion of the colony began to take place there and a kind of squatter colon y grew up, and during typhoons ship s made use of the safer anchorage in the western arm of Kowloon Bay rather than the exposed waters of the central harbour. Despite all this unofficia l activity, a surprisingly long nineteen years passed before the enterprisin g Harry Parkes, the British Consul in Canton, exchanged a paper with th e Governor Genera l of Canto n leasin g the southern en d o f the peninsul a for 50 0 taels of silver. This act of unofficial imperialis m was frowned o n by the powers that be, but was not repudiated. Late r the commander o f the Hong Kong garrison, Major General von Straubenzee, lent support to the acquisition an d pointed ou t tha t th e burgeoning cit y of Victoria fel l 12 The Expiring Lease evelopment, get up and go, has been an abiding theme in the life ofHong Kong from the moment on a cold winter morning of 26 January 1841 when Captain Elliot took possession. There was nowhere to live, but within a matter of months the first houses and offices had been built along the foreshore. Behind them, steep, treeless hillsides strewn with huge granite boulders reached up to the skyline ridge of the island. A trace, following a track along the foreshore, was laid out for the Queen's Road whose winding route, now far from the waters ofthe harbour, remains even today a crowded principal transport artery. Beyond the harbour in which the merchant and naval ships lay at anchor was the enticing land of the Kowloon Peninsula. It was not long after 1841 that unsanctioned expansion of the colony began to take place there and a kind of squatter colony grew up, and during typhoons ships made use of the safer anchorage in the western arm ofKowloon Bay rather than the exposed waters of the central harbour. Despite all this unofficial activity, a surprisingly long nineteen years passed before the enterprising Harry Parkes, the British Consul in Canton, exchanged a paper with the Governor General of Canton leasing the southern end of the peninsula for 500 taels of silver. This act of unofficial imperialism was frowned on by the powers that be, but was not repudiated. Later the commander of the Hong Kong garrison, Major General von Straubenzee, lent support to the acquisition and pOinted out that the burgeoning city of Victoria fell Feeling the Stones easily withi n th e rang e o f Chines e gun s situate d o n th e peninsula . Thereafter event s in a wider arena provided an opportunity to regularis e matters. Taking advantage of the seizure of the lorcha Arrow ( a lorcha is a small sailin g vesse l wit h a Wester n hul l an d Chines e rigging ) b y th e Chinese, hostilities were commenced by the British, an incident know n as the Arrow War. Hostilities were ended by the 186 0 Treaty of Tientsin, which further opened China to entry by the Western powers. Harry Parkes, not missin g a trick , manage d t o tac k ont o th e treat y th e cessio n o f th e southern part of the Kowloon Peninsula t o the British. Kowloon at that time was simply a part of rural China , a busy place of farmland, villages...

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