the responsibility for the outrage on the Viceroy of the
593
Two Kwong who had allowed the patrolling of the West River
to become more and more inefficient in spite of the various
incidents which had occurred to demonstrate the necessity
for greater vigilance and activity.
5.
I have little doubt that owing mainly to the
energy and promptness of His Majesty's Consul-General the
Sainam Piracy will be satisfactorily dealt with by the
Chinese Officials to the extent of bringing to justice a
proportion of the malefactors who took part in it. But the
question which most affects this Colony is the prevention of
the recurrence of similar incidents in the future. The sug-
gestion made by the Viceroy some little time ago that
Chinese "bravos" should travel on British steamers to pro-
text them is futile for the reasons given.in Mr.Stewart's
address. The Consul-General is urging on the Viceroy the
necessity for a well organised scheme for the suppression
of piracy and the use of his foreign drilled troops to
sarry it out; but however well organized such a scheme may
be in the first instance there can I fear be little doubt
that after a time the former slackness would supervene
while the Viceroy would undoubtedly seize every oppotunity
which the scheme
to lessen the unremunerative expenditure/would involve.The
Chamber of Commerce urge that substantial guarantees
should