Hongkong in which the suggestion was made that the control of the waterways should be placed under the Imperial Maritime Customs. I understand that the Provincial Authorities are exceedingly jealous of the Customs Administration, and a suggestion of this kind made at Peking might therefore tend to make them more active in their endeavours to suppress piracy.
Furthermore His Majesty's Consul General at Canton in a private letter to Sir M. Nathan has suggested that the interest of the Viceroy in the matter would be quickened if he were made pecuniarily responsible for all piracies of vessels under a foreign flag. For this purpose an Imperial Edict would no doubt be necessary.
I request, therefore, that you will consider the advisability, when addressing the Chinese Government on the inefficiency of the measures taken to suppress piracy on the Canton waterways, of pressing for the issue of an Imperial Edict making the Canton Viceroy pecuniarily responsible for piracies of vessels under a foreign flag.