i
Extract from Caplain flade's Report of 7th March 1900.
228
The Chinese guard boats do practically nothing
except carry passengers, and tow at the expense of the Govern-
ment, getting of course, a very good sum out of the people they
thus assist. They also levy a toll at times on all passing
boats.
I went on board one at Kong Mun, and was told that the Captain had not been on board for a long time, and
that they knew nothing, and did nothing except collect this
toll. This was one of the five new steam launches that have
recently been put on the river. I saw three of the others, and
they were all busily engaged in turning an honest penny at
the Viceroy's expense, towing and carrying passengers.
There are a good many rowing and sailing guard
boats, but they never appear to move at all. Most of them are
tied up to the bank with a little matshed on shore, where the
men appeared to live, and with a flourishing garden close to
it.
If the patrol boats only did their work
properly, instead of living on the traffic in the river, there
would be much less complaint of robbery and extortion than
there is now. As things stand at present they only make mat-
ters worse instead of
being