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3.
steamers, a special party was organised, with the under-
standing of the Japanese authorities, for attending to
arrivals and departures of the Japanese steamers and
collecting duty on passengers' luggage.
Such control
As
was greatly tightened during the year under review.
a consequence of the strict searching carried out on
board of all steamers, smugglers again resorted to the
old means of dumping goods into the river on the vessels'
way up the Haiho. This was immediately checked by the
reintroduction of the escorting system in April. A11
steamers from Dairen and Japan were escorted from Taku
Bar to Tientsin alternately by the C.P.Ls. Kuankang and
Kuanchieh. As the goods carried by passengers as luggage
were pouring in incessantly and on an increasing scale
during the first part of the year under review, the pre-
ventive measures on steamers were further strengthened in
Three Searching Parties were then organised for
dealing with the searching of all arrivals and departures
and the examination of passengers' luggage. Taking turns
weekly, one of the parties was stationed at the Taku Junk
Control Station for the purpose of searching all arrivals
and departures at Taku Bar. The Search Parties were kept
constantly busy attending to all vessels day and night,
and, as a result, a great improvement has been achieved,
not only in the control of the sundry importations by
steamers, but also in diverting a great portion of the
goods which would otherwise have been carried by the
passengers as luggage to the proper channel for importation.
The latter is, however, invisible.
June.
Throughout the year all the wharves on the
different bunds were patrolled by our officers, with the
exception of the bunds within the Japanese military zone.
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