CO129-271 - Governor Sir Robinson - 1896 [1-4] — Page 443

Enclosure.

IREC

C. C.

7908

REC 13 APR 3G,

Menorandum by Mr. Badeley, Acting Assistant Colonial Secretary441

177

:

Early in the month of October 1995 information was received

by the HongKong Police that certain members of a branch of the

Notorious Triad Society were endeavouring to engage recruits ib

the Colony to take part in a rising in the province of Kwong Hsi

but though enquiries were instituted nothing further could be dis-

covered with regard to this alleged rising.

2. On the 27th October Inspector Stanton of the HongKong Police

Force learned that about 400 men had been engaged in this Colony ab

soldiers and were to proceed to Canton that evening in the S.S.

"Powan one of the regular steamers running between that town and

+

HongKong. He communicated this intelligence by telephone to the

Captain Superintendent of Police and went himself to the steaner's

wharf, where he found some 300 coolies, all of the poorest class, who

had been turned off the ship because they could not pay the fares

to Canton. In reply to his enquiries, these men stated that they had"

been engaged as Government soldiers at $10 a month by one Chu Ho,

acting on behalf of Messrs. D. Sassoon's Compradore, and that they

were to go to Ng Chan (Wuchow), ,a city in the West river in the prb-

vince

of Kwong they had each received 5 cents for rations during the

2 previous days and had been promised $1 each as passage money.

3.

During this conversation Chu Ho himself arrived, accompanied

by two men, each of whom carried a bag of dollars. They said they had

$900,supplied by Sassoons Compradore,whom they called Yeung U Shan,

(whi