This officer's name specially to the notice of the Com-
mander-in-Chief. On his first arrival he found a decidedly uncomfortable state of things in existence. The inhabitants were more or less openly hostile; acts of hostility such as the cutting of telephone wires; the stoning of individual soldiers; taking place, as well as a continual succession of internecine murders and outrages on Chinese by Chinese.
The acts directed against the troops were promptly and firmly dealt with; and as for outside outrages, Major Prendergast assembled the elders and influential people, and by tact, patience, and forbearance, won their confidence, with the result that this country and neighbourhood is now comparatively quiet and certainly contrasts favourably with surrounding districts. I do not say that outrages have altogether ceased; that is, I fear, never the case in China,
but I do assert that should it become the policy of His Majesty's Government to retain this neighbourhood for good, it can be at once handed over to the civil administration in an orderly state; and on the other hand if we are ordered to withdraw, I believe that the process of withdrawal can be carried out without violence or bloodshed.
All this is due to the administrative tact and judgment of Major Prendergast, and largely to his personal influence, and I bring his name thus forward, as officers with this administrative ability are by no means frequent, and there is a constant use for such in the many frontier wars in which our Empire is engaged.
I have the honour to be,
Sir,
Your obedient Servant,
sgd. W. J. Gascoigne
Major General.
Commanding in Hing and Son: Mong.