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2. The system recommended.
In considering the general administration of the guards, difficulties in the way of the existing system ever becoming completely efficient at once appear. It is unpopular with owners and officers alike; and while this unpopularity may be due to the dislike of the whole Piracy Prevention Regulations as a Government measure (a matter of common knowledge), the position of the Indian guards is open to special attack. Of all the crew on board, these guards alone are not engaged by the ship and are not entirely subject to ship's discipline as are the others. They must be "requisitioned for to the Captain Super- intendent of Police". (Regulation 37). The Captain Superintendent of Police trains and appoints them to each ship as required and has the power to remove any guard from any ship as he may think fit. The guards also receive their pay and their punishments at the hands of the shore authorities. There is under the Piracy Prevention Regulations no system for supplying to a captain the previous records of men quartered on his ship, nor for informing him of the result of action taken by himself or his officers against any of the guards. However strictly the guards may be instructed that while on board they are as entirely subject to ships' discipline as are any other members of the crew, it is ob- vious that there must remain an important distinction. The Captain's power is vicarious only, and this interference with the traditions of the sea is naturally resented; while the guards are inclined to regard the shore authorities as their real masters. It is hardly to be expected that they should be averse from taking advantage of the opportunities this division of responsibility, apart from their special position on board the ship, provides.
The Commissioners do not deal with the internal details of administration such as the training of the guards. There was no reason to find fault, and even if defects should appear they would be matters of detail comparatively easily remedied. The principal weakness of the system is the divided responsibility, and the recommendations of the Commissioners are directed to this point. They are of opinion that the engagement of guards should (subject to one important proviso) be left entirely to owners, who would naturally be expected to cooperate in making their selection with their compradores, whose safes form one of the first objectives of all pirates;-but that if a desire is expressed to enlist Government assistance in securing recruits, the Captain Superintendent of Police should be directed to consult with the employer concerned, and to make such arrange- ments as may in each case be agreed upon. There remains the proviso. Men engaged as guards only are in a position distinct from that of ordinary members of a ship's crew, and their efficiency and desirability should be safeguarded by investing the Captain Superin- tendent of Police with a general power of supervision. One method of attaining this object would be the addition to Section 4 of the Arms Ordinance (No. 2 of 1900) of a sub- section, providing that guards so employed on any vessel should be subject to the ap- proval of the Captain Superintendent of Police, and that this approval could at any time in his discretion be withdrawn.
VII-(e) to consider generally and to make recommendations as to
the measures necessary for preventing piracy.
1. Request for suggestions and the response. Wireless and Searching in Hong Kong.
The Commissioners addressed to the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce, the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce the China Coast Officers' Guild, and the Marine Engineers' Guild of China, Messrs. Jardine Matheson & Co., Ltd., Messrs. Butter- field and Swire, Messrs. Douglas Lapraik and Co., Ltd., the Hong Kong, Canton and Macao Steamboat Co., Ltd, and the Chinese shipowners in Hong Kong, a letter in the following terms:
"I am directed by the Commissioners, appointed by His Excellency the Governor on 2nd December, 1926, for the purpose of conducting an enquiry into anti-piracy measures, to request you to be good enough to furnish them with your views on the Piracy Prevention Ordinance Regulations at present in force.'
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**2. Whilst inviting criticisms of these Regulations the Commissioners particularly desire to receive any suggestions which you may wish to put forward for the improve- ment of existing conditions, whether such suggestions are directly connected with the Re- gulations or not."