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being a protection, and they are cordially detested by all
respectable boats and traders, whom they make a practice of
fleecing.
way to make head
I have come to the conclusion that the only
against the grine that is so rife on these
waterways, and which seems to be on the increase, is to force the
Chinese Officials to accept the responsibility (which is laid
upon them by their law) of keeping order in their districts. The
District Magistrate is the man in each district who is supposed
ร
to be responsible for the bahaviour of the people of his district,
and he has ample power to enforce his will if he will really
wishes to do so. In order to fix this responsibility on him
in such a way that he cannot evade it, he should be ordered to
pay a fine of, say twice the value of the property stolen, or
disposed of within his district. This fine is to be levied on
the village or villages concerned in the robbery, but if he
cannot find out to what village the robbers belong, or to which
the booty has been taken, then he must pay the fiue himself as
a penalty for not keeping sufficiently good order