C
97
3.
they were in every instance accompanied by an officia:
of the Chinese Maritime Customs and provided, of
course, that they were unarmed,
I regret that for the reasons given above I
am unable to agree to the proposal contained in the
last paragraph of your letter under reference namely
that a fine of 35 per pioul should be inflicted for
every pioul of illicit salt found on board a British
ship.
In my opinion the only effective way of
putting a stop to illicit traffic in salt is that the
Chinese members of the crew who are suspected of be.
implicated in the matter should be handed over to
their om Folice Authorities and if convicted
severely punished.
With reference to the statement contained iz
your letter of April 6th addressed to lessre. Jardine
Matheson and Company to the effect that "530 bags of #
salt..........................can hardly be stored in the engine room
without the knowledge of the Chief Engineer" the
explanation has been furnished to me that the fact
that the salt was found in the engine room did not mea
that it had been stored there during the voyage but
that having been smuggled on board in the dark while
the ship was at anchor the bags must have been con-
! cealed in various hiding places and after the ship's
arrival in port collected in the engine room for con-
venience of landing.
1
In the meantime, I have asked Messrs. Jardin
Matheson and Company to furnish me with their report
on the case.
I have the honour to be,
Gentlemen,
Your obedient servant, (SIGNED) C.F.GARSTIN.
Acting Consul General,