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other places in the vicinity and that he also proposed to send a destroyer occasionally to such places as were easily accessible to vessels of that draught. On 23rd. November it was reported to me that S. S. "Kwong Yuen", an unlicensed passenger ship sail- -ing under the Chinese flag, had been pirated on the night of the 21st. This was followed by the attack on the S. S. "Shiu On"
on 23rd. idem.
3.
As a result of these outrages the British Steamship Companies trading on the West River as the West River British Steamship Company proposed to suspend their service on
24th. November, but continued to run between Canton and
Wuchow at the request of His Britannic Majesty's Consul-General
at Canton.
4.
On 26th. November the Commodore in response to an enquiry informed me that on the occurrence of the first of
the recent piracies the force in the Canton and West Rivers had
been increased and that the Senior Naval Officer had been direct-
-od to establish as regular a patrol as possible between Buchow
and Canton and in the main channels of the delta; this had hard-
-ly been organized when the piracy on the "Shiu On" took place.
He further informed me on 27th. idem that after interviewing
the representatives of various Steamship Companies he had made
arrangements for patrolling the more dangerous portions of the
West River in such a manner as would give the Companies suffici-
-ent confidence to continue running to Tuchow. The service of
the West River Steamers on the direct line between Hongkong and
Wuchow was accordingly resumed on 4th. December.
5.
A copy of the Finding of the Marine Court has
also been forwarded to His Britannic Majesty's Consul-General,
Canton, who intends to lodge with the local administration a
claim for compensation in respect of the shooting of the Chief
Officer.
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