K 9
The S.S. "Tung Chow", 1263 tons; flying the British flag and owned by the China Navigation Company, while en route from Shanghai to Tientsin via Weiheiwei and Chefoo with 194 passengers—including 70 European school children—and 500 to 600 tons of general cargo, was pirated at 5.55 p.m. on the 29th January when off Sha-Wei Shan, 75 miles north of Shanghai, by 10 armed men who had boarded the ship at Shanghai as passengers. The pirates shot and killed one Russian Anti-Piracy Guard, wounded the 2nd Engineer and seized the ship's armoury. They stole money and personal effects from the passengers and crew to the approximate value of $4,000 and five cases containing 250,000 uncompleted $1.00 notes of the Bank of China. The ship was taken to Tsiech Point, Hong Hai Bay, where the pirates left her at 2.30 p.m. on the 1st February, taking the loot ashore by means of a ship's boat and a commandeered junk.
SPECIAL BRANCH,
43. Following the arrest and banishment of leading members of the Hong Kong Communist Party during the latter part of 1934, the movement in Hong Kong collapsed, and throughout the whole of 1935, the Colony was entirely free from organised communism.
Apart from Communist literature sent into the Colony by post, no attempts to spread Communist propaganda in Hong Kong came to notice during 1935.
FINGER PRINT DEPARTMENT.
44. A summary of work executed in this Department for the year 1935 is as follows:-
Year. No. of slips searched. No. of slips traced. No. of slips filed. No. of returned Banishees. No. of records added to Bureau. 1935. 13,264 3,699 15,566 770 8,817 1934. 20,626 5,357 19,369 433 Decrease 7,362 1,658 3,803 Increase 337Total number of records on file—140,470.
During the year thirty-one returned banishees were discharged owing to the banishment order having been made on the wrong form of warrant. These persons were later banished on the correct warrant.