C
304
the elders together & advised & assisted them to organise patrols of their own & gave them written permission to export a few arms from Hong-Kong for their own protection, on condition that these arms should be first brought to this camp, issued to individuals with permits, & to be produced on application by us for inspection.
By all these measures the village confidence appeared to be restored; they expressed the utmost gratitude for the protection afforded & the troops were withdrawn.
As regards the hint dropped that it was thought that the perpetrators came from Sha Tau, curiously enough some days before the alleged outrage the elders of this place, who had hitherto held aloof, volunteered to come in for a conference with Major Prendergast & they did come in of their own accord the day following the outrage.
Both Major Prendergast & I myself saw them: they professed complete ignorance of the murder; declared that Wong-Kong had a grievance against Sha Tau & put down to the latter town every outrage which took place all round. On being pressed by me that if I got no information they might receive a most unpleasant visit, they replied that if so it must be, that I was the stronger power, but that they could tell me nothing as there was nothing to tell.
I gave them 48 hours to think it over & ordered their return at the time.
They came & again repeated that they had
13
No
...
has been revised toC
304
the elders together & advised & assisted them to organise patrols of their own & gave them written permission to export a few arms from Hong-Kong for their own protection, on condition that these arms should be first brought to this camp, issued to individuals with permits, & to be produced on application by us for inspection.
By all these measures the village confidence appeared to be restored; they expressed the utmost gratitude for the protection afforded & the troops were withdrawn.
As regards the hint dropped that it was thought that the perpetrators came from Sha Tau, curiously enough some days before the alleged outrage the elders of this place, who had hitherto held aloof, volunteered to come in for a conference with Major Prendergast & they did come in of their own accord the day following the outrage.
Both Major Prendergast & I myself saw them: they professed complete ignorance of the murder; declared that Wong-Kong had a grievance against Sha Tau & put down to the latter town every outrage which took place all round. On being pressed by me that if I got no information they might receive a most unpleasant visit, they replied that if so it must be, that I was the stronger power, but that they could tell me nothing as there was nothing to tell.
I gave them 48 hours to think it over & ordered their return at the time.
They came & again repeated that they had
13
No...
However, to follow the exact format required for the response, here is the corrected version in HTML:C
304
the elders together & advised & assisted them to organise patrols of their own & gave them written permission to export a few arms from Hong-Kong for their own protection, on condition that these arms should be first brought to this camp, issued to individuals with permits, & to be produced on application by us for inspection.
By all these measures the village confidence appeared to be restored; they expressed the utmost gratitude for the protection afforded & the troops were withdrawn.
As regards the hint dropped that it was thought that the perpetrators came from Sha Tau, curiously enough some days before the alleged outrage the elders of this place, who had hitherto held aloof, volunteered to come in for a conference with Major Prendergast & they did come in of their own accord the day following the outrage.
Both Major Prendergast & I myself saw them: they professed complete ignorance of the murder; declared that Wong-Kong had a grievance against Sha Tau & put down to the latter town every outrage which took place all round. On being pressed by me that if I got no information they might receive a most unpleasant visit, they replied that if so it must be, that I was the stronger power, but that they could tell me nothing as there was nothing to tell.
I gave them 48 hours to think it over & ordered their return at the time.
They came & again repeated that they had
13
No...