Registry No. F 4313/8/10.
F. O.,
August
19 30.
70
Draft.
A.Feuner Brockway, 28q.
M.P.
I am now able to reply to your letters
of the 14th and 22nd of July about the provi-
sion of Russian guards on British ships in
Chinese waters.
The fucts are these. Piracy is, as you
know, unfortunately rife on the China coast,
especially in certain localities, and there
have been many instances of brutal attacks
by pirates on British and other merchant ship-
ping. The efforts of the Chinese authorities
to cope with this evil have unfortunately met
with little success, and until recently it
was considered necessary to supply armed
guards from His Majesty's Forces to british
merchant ships permanently trading on the
China coast. Indian guards were also supplied
by the Hongkong police authorities for the
protection of other british ships passing
through infested areus.
There....
Page 70Page 71
71