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dealing with piracy along the seaboard, and for
fully 20 years they carried on a moet successful
work without ever, so far as I knew, having given
rise to a clain of any kind.
What was now required was that a sinflar
acheme, not necessarily British in its composition,
should be applied to the inland waters, for if the
Chinese Government wished to inspire confidence, the
employmmt of foreigners was an absolutely essential
feature of the arrangement.
The Grand Secretary took note of this precedent
and is Excellency T'ong expressed the opinion,
based upon an intimate knowledge of the local
conditions, that if the authorities really exerted
themselves, they could put a stop to piracy in a
month.
While promising further consideration of the
question on the receipt of the Viceroy's report,
lls Excellency said that the root of the evil
lay in the illicit importation of arms from longkong
and