463
it. Hitherto it has been confined to stealing children in this
Colony and holding them to ransom in China, but of late the
reverse process has become prevalent and children are stolen
in China and held to ransom here. As I informed you in my
Despatch under reference the Viceroy has appealed to me to
assist him in putting an end to crime of this class alleging,
I believe with truth, that the criminals congregate in Yaumati.
The difficulty in obtaining evidence lies in the fact that the
persons from whom ransom is demanded are afraid to give
evidence lest the kidnapped person should suffer violence. In
a paper before me five cases are reported, and in four of ther
the kidnapped persons were detained in Hongkong and a second
in China so that if information had been given in either
jurisdiction the life of the child in the other jurisdiction
would have been in extreme danger. The Registrar-General
writes in a minute dated 21st. ultimo:- "Yesterday the Hon-
*-ourable Mr. Wei Yuk was telling us of a case where the
*parents would not pay. The child was boiled and dressed up
as a boiled pork and placed in front of the parents' house".
6
Account of similar atrocities in China appear in the papers
A
constantly, a peculiarly atrocious case is described in the
annexed
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