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correspondence which has passed, of the other measures
taken by this Government to combat the present piracy evil, namely the posting of military guards on certain of the ships pending the training of adequate civil guards. Four small vessels are now being equipped and armed and will be manned by naval persomel at the expense of this Government, to carry out additional patrols in the delta.
11.
The Cantonese authorities have recently
displayed commendable vigour in attacking the pirate laira, By arrangement with the Chinese officials the Senior Naval officer on the West River, Commander Haxwell Scott has been present on his vessel H.M.S. "Tarantula" when attacks have been made but he has had no occasion to render active
assistance. The men captured after the sinking of the launch "Kwong Tak" by the Customs Cruiser were sent to Canton and after trial were executed and as a result of the
active measures taken it would appear that the gang responsible for the "Tai Lee" outrages has been exterminated 12. It may, I think, now be hoped that the measures which have been taken will reduce to a minimum future cases of attack on British ships but there will always be the possibility of desperate men, such as swarm on the river and in the neighbouring villages, taking big risks in order to capture an important prize if,
for
instance, it is known that large sums of money or very wealthy passengers, who can be held for ransom, will be on board on a particular voyage, and while present conditions exist I do not see how this possibility is to be avoided.
13. As you will have seen from the preceding paragraphs of this despatch the problem is not the comparative simple one of dealing with piratical attacks from outside. The method of the pirates has been to ship as passengers and at a favourable opportunity to seize control of the ship. Against such a plan of action, a
system
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