Tear-gas in Hongkong
The short-lived but alarming disturbances which occurred in Kowloon last week were given rather highly coloured treatment in some Press reports. They seem to have been caused by imperfect liaison between an ostensibly philanthropic mission from Canton and various Chinese organisations in Hongkong and thereafter by false rumours to the effect that the would-be Communist visitors (who had in fact been denied entry to the Colony pending the receipt of proper applications) had been detained in the border area. Trouble-makers seized the opportunity to inflame the passions of a large mob, and but for the staunchness of the police—most of whom, of course, are Chinese—the situation might well have got out of control locally. As it was, various acts of hooliganism were coin- mitted and a dozen people were slightly injured. The incident, which seems to have been largely spontaneous, is a reminder (and perhaps a salutary one) of the extent to which Hongkong is and must always be a hostage to fortune, not easily defens- ible against aggression from without and chronically vulnerable to internal disturbances among its swollen population. It does not look like a signal that the Chinese Communists are pre- paring to turn the heat on what they regard as a provocative outpost of Imperialism; but it warns us not to forget that, sooner or later, such a contingency is almost bound to arise.
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