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follows:
The unanimous recommendations of the Commissioners are summarised as
1. The Government should endeavour to induce the authorities at the coast ports to make the searching at those ports more effective, and should continue to press for the cooperation of the Chinese authorities to deal with the evil ashore. Should effective co- operation continue to be withheld, the Commissioners consider that H.M.'s Government would be amply justified in taking independent action for the extermination of known pirate strongholds as a common international duty.
2. The necessity for all possible patrolling by the Navy on the rivers and on the coast, especially in the vicinity of such spots as Bias Bay, should continue to be em- phasised.
3. The whole of the Piracy Prevention Regulations should be rescinded, and the following recommendations should be brought to the notice of owners as the outlines of a scheme sufficient to enable a few determined men to prevent a successful piracy, and so to make even the attempt at piracy unlikely
(a) The bridge should be protected by grilles and dodgers, with guards
stationed at the entrances.
(b) Subsidiary grilles should be provided, isolating the Officers and 1st class
cabins as far as possible.
(c) Careful attention should be given to points of detail such as:---the ar- rangement of lights to assist the defence, a system of alarm bells and a plan to concentrate all Europeans on alarm.
4. The compulsory installation of wireless telegraphy should be considered, but in any event the Government should encourage its use and development by such means as the reduction of charges for a system of anti-piracy messages.
5. The Government should establish a Board to be the repository of all data con- nected with piracy, which should meet at, say, quarterly intervals to consider the ques- tion generally with a view to being in a position to supply information and advice when called upon. The idea of the. Commissioners is to reduce formalities, and therefore de- lay, to a minimum. The opinion and advice of the members of the Board should be seve- rally or jointly at the disposal of those concerned, and the available data should be equal- ly at the disposal of each member, who would have discretion to advise with or without calling the remaining members to formal consultation. The responsibility for the collec- tion and custody of the records would naturally fall to the lot of the Harbour Master, with the Harbour Office as the most convenient repository; and the members to be associated with him should include the Captain Superintendent of Police, a Naval Officer, and a Coast Officer still serving. The necessary steps should from time to time be taken to bring the existence and nature of this Board, and its personnel to the notice of those concern- ed, especially the Shipping Companies.
19th April, 1927.
A. H. STEWART,
W. DAVISON,
T. G. WEALL,
L. PITCAIRN JONES,
G. F. HOLE,
E. D. C. WOLFE,
E. R. HALLIFAX, Chairman.