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while the Acting Viceroy at Canton absolutely refused to admit the principle. The Central Government had also agreed to the proposal to patrol the West River by Cruisers under Customs control, which the Acting Viceroy refused to do.
This particular solution had been adopted by His Majesty's Minister as the one to be pressed and the Waiwupu in reply to other schemes proposed were informed that they could only be considered as complementary to scheme of Customs control. In November 1906 Sir Robert Hart in reply to a request for advice from the Viceroy had suggested that the patrol of the waterways should be entrusted to small armed launches with some 10 soldiers in each to be under the direct control of the Commissioner of Customs at the 4 riverain ports, while the local officials should be held responsible for the more important and difficult work of arresting pirates on shore. He had thus concurred in the principle of Customs control, but Sir J. Jordan in the following March found him very averse to supplying the money required out of Customs funds. This difficulty was met by the Waiwupu who informed the Minister in April that the Revenue Board had decided to provide £32,000 on behalf of the Chinese Government for the purchase of the 4 revenue cruisers which it was proposed to place under the Customs.
It