[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
AFFAIRS OF CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[15942]
No. 1.
450
April 2017
REON &
RECP 16 JUN 11
Acting Consul Rose to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received April 29.)
(No. 4. Consular. Confidential.) Sir,
Tengyueh, March 29, 1911.
I HAVE the honour to enclose copy of a despatch which I have to-day addressed to His Majesty's Minister at Peking on the subject of a raid by Chinese Kachius on the Burmah district of Powang.
Enclosure I in No. 1.
I have, &c.
ARCHIBALD ROSE.
(No. 4. Confidential.) Sir,
Acting Consul Rose to Sir J. Jordan.
Tengyueh, March 29, 1911. I HAVE the honour to submit a more detailed report of the Powang raid, to which reference has already been made in my telegrams of the 11th and 27th March. In the course of the frontier meeting at Namkham I received information that trouble was anticipated in the Powang district, owing to the action of a Kachin named Sao Naw, a notorious character, who was reported to be collecting a band of Kachins with a view to the murder of the Dawa of Powang. As the circle in question is situated in close proximity to the border and marches with the Chinese Shan States of Chefang and Mong-pan, I at once addressed a despatch to the Taotai Keng, warning him of the possibility of serious trouble, and requesting him to take joint action with the British authorities with a view to preventing the violation of the frontier. The Taotai assured me personally that he would issue the necessary instructions, but information reaches me from Chinese sources that no precautions were taken. Early in March the trouble appears to have reached a head. Sao Naw in company with some 200 or 300 Kachius from the China side of the border attacked and burned two Burmah villages, one of which was Hpawng-hseng, at the same time killing two Kachins and wounding five or six others, and driving off the cattle to Chefaug in China. The raiders then stockaded themselves under the leadership of Sao Naw at Hpawng-hseng, where they were attacked and driven from their cover by Mr. Kiernander, the Assistant Superintendent at Kutkai, and the Assistant Commandant at the head of a small body of military police. During the attack on the stockades a Kachin from the Burmah side was killed, and seven sepoys were wounded, whilst the main body of the raiders fled across the border to Pangwai, in the Chinese State of Mong-pan.
1
On receipt of the first news of the raid I urged the Taotai to take immediate action to prevent other Kachins from crossing the froutier, and he agreed to send runners to the Frontier Deputy Chao, who was on his way to meet Mr. Kiernander, instructing him to hasten to the spot and co-operate with the British officers, understand that the frontier deputy has arrived at Hpawng-hseng, that the Sub-Prefect of Lang-ling and the Sawbwas of Chefang and Mong-pan are on their way thither, and that there is unlikely to be a further outbreak.
It is proposed to demand from China compensation on account of the raid, including the value of the property destroyed, the cattle which have been driven away; the customary frontier settlement of 300 rupees for the Kachins who had beeu killed and wounded; and the delivery of the leaders Sao Naw and Sao-ting with a number of fugitives from the Burmah side of the border, who are being harboured in the Chinese Shan States of Mong-pan, Chefang, and Lungchuan.
Three villages in Burmab are still stockaded and held, but the frontier deputy is a capable official, and it is probable that he will be able to arrange matters with Mr. Kiernander, and that they will succeed in restoring order in the border country,
[1974 --1]