68 102
CF 1003/26
Commander Faure's Memorandum is not
very clearly expressed, but he seems to be
trying to make three points:
(1) As regards piracy in the Canton delta, he says it is more in the nature of the levying of a toll on passing vessels by the local
military or civil authorities, who are in practice
semi-independent, somewhat in the style of the
mediaeval robber barons on the Rhine. The
matter, therefore, has various social implications
which do not exist in the case of piracy pure
and simple, because apparently this source of
revenue is more or less officially recognised.
This view is interesting but is not entirely
new as the point was made by Sir R. E. Stubbs at the Interdepartmental Conference in 1926.
In any case no particular notice has been taken
of it either by the Foreign Office or Hong Kong.
Piracy in the delta area is mainly a concern of
Chinese vessels.
(2) Commander Faure suggests that
Chen Chiung-ming had some connection with the
piracies in 1924 when he was in control of the
Bias Ba area. This may have been so, and he
certainly was not successful in preventing pirates
using that area; but piracies have continued
since Chen Chiung-ming disappeared from the political scene, and Commander Faure does not
go so far as to suggest that he is the organiser
of