This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
AFFAIRS OF CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[4251]
No. 1.
[February 7.]
SECTION 1.
C.O. 7780
Rece
Colonial Office to Foreign Office.—(Received February 7.)
THE Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies presents his compliments to the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and is directed by the Secretary of State to transmit, for the information of Sir E. Grey, with reference to the letter from the Foreign Department of the 31st December, 1907, a copy of a Confidential despatch from the Governor of Hong Kong on the subject of piracy in Canton waters.
Downing Street, February 6, 1908.
Inclosure 1 in No. 1.
Governor Sir F. Lugard to the Earl of Elgin.
(Confidential.) My Lord,
Government House, Hong Kong, December 24, 1907.
I HAVE the honour to report to you the events which have recently occurred in reference to the question of piracy in Canton waters, and to submit a few remarks on this subject.
2. At the time of my arrival here matters had almost reached a dead-lock. The then Acting Viceroy (Hu Hsiang), who has always been noted not merely for his anti-foreign proclivities, but also for his apparent personal dislike to foreigners, was actively opposed to the proposals for dealing with piracy, and set at nought the orders received from Peking. The matters at issue were two:
(a.) The obligation of the Provincial Government to pay compensation in respect of the "Sainam" and Ki Cheong piracies.
(b.) The necessity of employing fast, well-armed, and adequately-manned cruisers under Customs control to police the waterways, and to co-operate with the land authorities.
The Wai-wu Pu had in respect of the first recognized the obligation and directed the Viceroy to settle the matter, which he declined to do. They had also concurred in the proposal to place a certain number of cruisers, properly found and under control of foreigners of the Imperial Maritime Customs, on the river; positive assurances to this effect had been given by the Grand Secretary to His Majesty's Minister at Peking, and the Wai-wu Pu had assured him that the necessary funds would be found by the Revenue Council. The local Viceroy, however, declined to recognize the orders of the Wai-wu Pu, and placed fourteen new launches of a cheap and ineffective kind upon the river, withdrawing at the same time some seventy guard-boats, with their guards. His remedy, therefore, left matters in a worse state than they were before, with the result that (owing to anticipated bad crops in the district) a worse recrudescence of piracy was expected in the autumn. This fear was, as a matter of fact, realized—six piracies taking place in the single month of October.
3. In these circumstances the Minister suggested that a naval demonstration and the possible seizure of Whampoa Dock, but the Consul-General at Canton considered that the former action might lead to serious riots and that the dock was of little value. As an alternative he proposed to threaten the repeal of the Hong Kong Arms Ordinance, the suspension of extradition, and that hospitality should no longer be refused by Hong Kong to revolutionaries. He felt convinced that such a threat at a moment when the authorities of the two Kwang Provinces were much alarmed at the progress of the Reform movement would have an immediate effect. The Minister supported this suggestion, adding that the Admiral might be instructed to proceed to Canton with a naval force. The Admiral, on being referred to (5th August), replied that an effective patrol of the delta would be impossible without suitable vessels, and he considered that a demonstration against Canton would be unwise.
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