ONFIDENTIAL.
Hongkong.
My Lord,
417
REC
C O
20882
Red 22 AUG 10
Government House,
Hongkong, 21st. July, 1910.
I have the honour to inform Your
Lordship that on the 13th. instant news reached this
Colony that in attempting to effect the capture of some
Chinese pirates on the island of Colowan, which is part
of the territory concerning the sovereignty of which the
Portuguese and Chinese Governments are not agreed,
Portuguese troops had come into collision with Chinese
"}
troops. I immediately instituted enquiries as to the
truth of this rumour and on the following morning received
trustworthy information that no such collision had taken
place, and that the affair was nothing more than an attempt
by the Portuguese Authorities to rescue certain Chinese
youths of well-to-do parents who had been kidnapped in
China and who were held to ransom by robbers on the island
in question, which appears to be a well known resort of
pirates.
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
THE EARL OF CREWE,
80...
&C.
2.