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CONFIDENTIAL.
Sir,
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TREC
20500
REGE MAY 16
GOVERNMENT HOUSE,
HONGKONG. 21st. March, 1916.
247
I have the honour to inform you that in October last the co-operation of this Government was asked on behalf of the Naval Intelligence Officer at Shanghai to prevent the smuggling of arms from Shanghai into India. I at once increased the already large rewards offered in this Colony for information leading to the seizure of arms and ammunition and gave orders for the search of
every stemer passing through this Port that might directly or in-
-directly convey arms to India. These steps have not resulted in any seizures of arms. The searches still continue.
2.
The searching of a laden stemmer is a very
difficult operation and I therefore sought to increase the induce-
-ments in Shanghai or other Ports in China by offering rewards on
behalf of the Hongkong Government to those interested in such seizures, and I enclose a copy of a letter addressed to Rear-
-Admiral R. H. Anstruther, C.M.G., on the subject and of correspond-
-ence with the Commander-in-Chief which has arisen out of my propos-
al. You will observe that I have offered certain rewards to the
informers of the Naval Intelligence Officer at Shanghai. I have
offered similar rewards to the Chinese Maritime Customs but these
have not as yet been accepted.
3.
The importance of the matter and the difficulti-
-es in the way of the Hongkong Police to render any really effective
HE RIGHT HONOURABLE
ANDRET BONAR LAW, M.P.,
&C..
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