2.
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China's revenue but also of her currency, in support of
which an embargo has been placed on many categories of
imports. Kerosene oil is one such commodity and it is
this article that constitutes the bulk of smuggled imports
and is primarily responsible for the serious situation that
has developed during recent months in the Mirs Bay land
districts.
During the past few weeks my Administration
have been engaged on intensive land preventive operations
throughout the areas concerned, which, I may add, have
involved constant encounters with armed bands protecting the
smugglers. As a result of these operations some 15,000
gallons of kerosene oil have been seized and confiscated,
but I regret to record that this quantity represents but a
portion of the aggregate amount of oil estimated to be
smuggled from the Colony into Chinese territory bordering
Mirs Bay daily; the seizures, which have been effected at
considerable risk to the Customs Staff, have made but
little impression on those engaged in these illegal
operations, as is evident from the fact that the loading
of kerosene oil at Shatowkok and other places in British
territory and its despatch to Mirs Bay to be smuggled
into China are proceeding without interruption. It is
estimated by my Administration that the amount smuggled
from the Colony into the Chinese districts in question
reaches tens of thousands of gallons daily;
the oil,
after being loaded into junks at points in British territory
is either transported direct to Chinese territory or it
proceeds to Pingchow or Kato Island in British waters,
and at these places it is landed for storage or remains
in the junks pending favourable opportunities for smuggling
it out of the Colony and landing it in China at one of
the many neighbouring places on the Mirs Bay littoral.