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(3) That a system of patrolling the routes traversed by "these vessels by armed oraft equipped with wireless installa-. "tions is the only means by which efficient counter measures "can be taken,
"That this is a duty which should be entirely in the "hands of the Royal Navy which is the only Service adequately "equipped to carry it to a successful issue.
74) That the installation of wireless telegraphy, al though "possibly expensive as to first cost, is nevertheless impera- "tive and, if it tends to save life and property or check this "orying evil, as it most assuredly will, no consideration of "first cost should be allowed to weigh against this obvious "factor of officiency.
(5)
That the money paid by the shipowners for the services "of the guards might be more suitably directed to the insurance "of the lives and bodies of the European officers engaged in "yeasels subject to the Piracy Regulations. Under present "conditions it is the lives and bodies of these officers which "form the premium of insurance on the property of others. No "form of recomponse for bodily injury sustained is demanded by "the law and none has ever been paid.
"When it is remembered that the least amount paid "(in the case of vessels carrying four (4) guards) is $1200.00 "per annum it is clear that this amount would easily cover any "premium on the life and limb of any of the officers engaged "in that vessel. It would thus be an assurance to these "gentlemen that they were some real value, rather than (as "appears to them at present) mere food for powder. Their "present position is that not only have they their maritime duties to perform, but have in addition (at the behest of "people totally unacquainted with those duties) to bear the "brant of and all responsibility for a failure to carry out "the Piracy Regulations.
"We have no knowledge of any other civilian calling "in which the employee is called upon to offer his life in "order to defend the property of others, and we are constrained "by reason to think that, if it were so, an adequate recompense "would be given for the sacrifice.
(6) That the absence of any form of enquiry into any of "the cases of piracy which have occurred since that of the "Sul "An" in November 1922, has given rise to an intense feeling of "insecurity, greatly aggravated by the attempt, in the "Draft "Ragulations" submitted to His Excellency the Governor, to "intensify the personal risks of those immediately concerned "by a body of gentlemen who at no time ever had to ever will "have similar duties to perform.
(7) That as the offer of a reward for useful evidence "is the practice in connection with the detection of other "forms of crime, it could be profitably adopted in cases of "piracy.
(8) That, as it has been noticed by many of our members "that the search of passengers is frequently very superficial, "it is considered that a hope of reward would strengthen the "incentive of the gearchers to discover arms and ammunition.
(9) That the necessity of pressing for a detailed reply "is demonstrated by the fact that our letter of 12 September "1923 addressed to the Honourable the Colonial Secretary on "the same subject has never been acknowledged.
"That the necessity of pressing for an early reply "is demonstrated by the fact that, although the Regulations "have been on the Statute Book since 1914, piracy is increasing "and the lives of our members constantly at stake, but no "satisfactory action has been taken whereby a remedy might