Enclosure No. 10 in Swo tow No. 92 of October 23, 1926.
The Commissioner for Foreign affairs to in. Vongul Zirke.
September 23, 1926.
204
Robbery from Zoo Yee Swee's House.
sir,
I have the honour to seknowledge the receipt of your letter
of the 16th. instant in which you state that no regulation
exists which preventa British subjects from purchasing in China
arma for self-defonos or for sporting purpose and request that
e Creare and steinition remove d rom Teo Ten
's bouse
by the police my be returned. You further complain that my
predecesnor, Commissioner Lin, had not reelied to your enquiry
whether the molice who had illtranted Teo Tee Swee had been
punished.
In reply. I bag to state that foreigners are not allowed
to smuggle arms and ammunition into a port and that in esse
of any branch of thin regulation the Maritime Custome will
confiscate such articles. It is almost unnecessary to inform
you of this, as it is stipulated in the treaties. Further,
in Section 3 of the Rovized Regulation for the Import of Arme
and Ammunition it is stated that every respectable foreign
resident in China wishing to import 1 pistol and 500 rounds
of armunition Zor his own defence shall apply for a permit.
This has been the procedure for many years and has not been
questioned by (the authorities of) any country.
In April, 1916, the Stenară 011 Company at Shanghai
proposed to purchase a pistol and memunition for the use of
their installation watohman for purposes of nelf-deferee.
The Commiratoner for Foreign Affairs at Shanghai considered
that this would be in contrevention of the regulation snd
requested the United States Consul to prohibit the purchase.
Thus although the Chinese regulations do not expressly
prohibit the purchase by foreigners in Chine of arms for
self-defence