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that large supplies of men and arms were permitted to be sent from Penang for the purpose of waging war in Laroot, and that at least one junk did leave with the full cognizance of the police, and after being furnished with a pass by the harbour authorities. 3. It also appears from previous correspondence that you were aware of what had formerly taken place, and of what was then happening in Laroot, but it does not appear to the Governor that you took any steps to prevent the law from being broken by the interference of persons in Penang known to sympathize with or to be promoters of the hostile expedition from Penang.

4. You state, in explanation of your reasons for not having interfered with the vessel in the Laroot River that had been dispatched there from Penang, that although she could probably have been brought out, her capture would very likely have been attended with a serious loss of life. His Excellency desires me to point out that this was a matter for the consideration of the officer commanding Her Majesty's ship "Nassau," to whom you should have explained the improper and illegal proceedings that had taken place, when it would have been for him to decide whether under the circumstances it was justifiable and expedient that he should interfere with the force at his disposal.

5. His Excellency does not consider that the apprehension you had of a course of acrimonious litigation, with a demand on Government for damages, based on the report that a lawyer had been retained with a fee of 2,000 dollars by the owner of the junks, should have influenced your judgment in considering the propriety of taking any steps regarding them, nor does his Excellency think that the fear of a loss of prestige in case of refusal is a reason why the demand for a surrender of the offending junk should not have been made by Captain Speedy. His Excellency concurs with you that it would not have been proper for Captain Speedy, with the small number of men at his disposal, to have attempted the recovery of the junks by force.

6. His Excellency having given the most careful consideration to the whole circum- stances of this case desires me to express his opinion that, being aware of the disturbed state of Laroot, and of the extent to which the sympathies of people in Penang were enlisted on behalf of one of the contending parties there, you should have taken all the means in your power of warning the people against interfering in this matter, pointing out the illegality of such proceedings and the penalties by which they are attended. His Excellency is further of opinion that your marine and police should have been instructed to use the greatest watchfulness to prevent assistance being given by people in Penang in fitting out the junk, and that if this were done in such a way as to escape the watchful attention of your officers, you should yet on discovering her true character have caused her to be detained, a course of action which the presence of a man-of-war in the harbour would have rendered comparatively easy. Proceedings could then have been taken against the vessel, which would doubtless have resulted in the discovery of the persons in Penang who are implicated in her illegal equipment there, and have enabled them to be dealt with according to law.

7. I am further to instruct you that, in the event of any similar emergency arising you will be good enough to guide yourself by the views expressed by his Excellency in this letter.

I have, &c. (Signed) E. A. IRVING,

Assistant Colonial Secretury, Straits Settlements.

The Hon. the Acting Lieutenant-Governor,

(No. 9.) Sir,

Penang.

No. 13.

The Earl of Kimberley to Governor Sir H. St. George Ord.

Downing Street, January 17, 1873.

I HAVE received your despatch No. 193 of the 11th November last, inclosing a copy of a report from the Acting Lieutenant-Governor of Penang, respecting his recent visit to Her Majesty's ship "Nassau" to the Laroot River, and of subsequent correspondence on the subject between you and Mr. Campbell.

I do not think that Mr. Campbell, when in the Laroot River, could properly have attempted more than was effected by Captain Speedy and the police in the "Fair Penang," apart from the question whether such proceedings in waters within the territorial jurisdiction of the native government could be legally justified. Any further interference

• No. 12.

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with the junks might, and probably would, have led to an armed conflict, while the appears to have been too far distant to render prompt or effectual aid, in the

"Nassau

event of resistance.

It will, therefore, be desirable that you should so far modify the instructions contained i. the concluding paragraph of your letter to Mr. Campbell of the 12th of November last,

With this exception, I approve of the purport of the letters addressed by your direction to Mr. Campbell.

Stringent measures should be taken to prevent further aid being sent from Penang to the parties engaged in warfare at Laroot. I do not understand how, if proper vigilance were exercised by the authorities at Penang, such a violation of the law could have been allowed to take place.

I have, &c.

No. 14.

(Signed) KIMBERLEY.

Governor Sir H. St. George Ord to the Earl of Kimberley.—(Received April 28.) (No. 72.) My Lord,

Government House, Singapore, March 20, 1873.

I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Lordship's despatch No. 9 of 17th January, 1873, on the subject of the proceedings of Acting Lieutenant-Governor Campbell in connection with the disturbances on the Laroot River.

2. In the second paragraph of your Lordship's despatch, your Lordship expresses an opinion, that Mr. Campbell, when in the Laroot River, could not properly have attempted more than was effected by Captain Speedy and the police in the "Fair Penang," and your Lordship, inferring from my letter to Mr. Campbell, that I entertain a different opinion, points out that it will be desirable that I should modify the instructions contained in the concluding paragragh of my letter of the 12th November last to Mr. Campbell.

3. I beg to assure your Lordship that, I never intended to convey to Mr. Campbell that I considered he could have done more on the Laroot River than was effected by Captain Speedy. On receiving his first report of the 18th November, I was at a loss to understand why, with the " Nassau to support him, he did not call upon the junks from Penang to desist from their illegal proceedings. Mr. Campbell, in reply, alleged certain reasons which he considered justified the course which had been followed, and I thought it right to point out to him that, in my opinion, they were not reasons which should have influenced his action in the matter. I think it extremely probable, as Mr. Campbell urges, that if the boats of the "Nassau "had attempted to capture any of the Penang junks, there might have been considerable loss of life and success would not have been certain; but, the legality of the act apart, I consider that this was a matter for Captain Chimmo's decision, and that Mr. Campbell need not have taken upon himself to consider it.

"

4. I thought, however, and still think, that Captain Speedy should have been instructed, if he found any junks in the river under circumstances which would have rendered their removal to Penang justifiable, to inform the people in them, that they had committed a breach of our law, and that they were liable to be brought back, and punished for it. I do not hold with Mr. Campbell that he should have been deterred from doing this by the fear of legal proceedings, or even of a loss of prestige in case of a refusal. 5. Since the date of my despatch, matters have become much worse in Laroot. The Macao Chinese in Penang, who are the parties engaged in the quarrel, have appealed for assistance to their friends around, and even as far as China, and I received private information from reliable sources that at least one large armed junk had been sent from Macao to take part in the quarrel, whilst every effort was to be made to induce the Macao Chinese in Singapore to throw themselves into it. Mr. Campbell also reported that two small vessels, in no way mixed up with these disturbances, had been captured while passing the mouth of the river, plundered, and it is supposed, their crews murdered.

6. I accordingly summoned the Executive Council and issued a Proclamation under the "Arms Exportation Act of 1867," prohibiting the exportation of arms, ammunition, or warlike stores to any part of the country between the Krean and Perak Rivers-a distance sufficient to include all ways by which access is likely to be obtained to the interior of Laroot.

7. I also gave Mr. Campbell instructions to take every precaution to prevent any breach of this regulation, and desired him to impress upon the Chinese who are con-

• No. 13.