CO129-406 - Public Offices - 1913 — Page 139

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of claim and forwarded it, together with a letter, to

the Hongkong Colonial Secretary.

The reply to this not being sutisfactory under the

circumstances, and application to the Secretary of the

the

Guild being impossible, I consulted Mr. Sandeman,

Honorary Agent in Hongkong, and it was considered advisable

to see Messrs. Wilkinson und Grist in the matter.

Mr. Reader Harris, of that firm, was of opinion

that the case was worth further correspondence through

them with the Hongkong Govern ent. This has followed, with

but little sutisfactory result. The whole correspondence

over the matter will, I believe, be forwarded to you

by Messrs. Wilkinson and Grist.

It is somewhat difficult to say what steps might be

taken to prevent these occasional piratical outbreaks.

We had arms and ammunition on board the "Tai On",

but of what use was it in the hands of three men?

I had a loaded revolver over the head of my bunk,

and had I thought of it should have taken it on deck

with me. What would have been the result? I might have

Spotted one or two of the pirates, but with their numbers

they would certainly have got me, and probably have made

a finish of all the Europeans.

mouths of the Cunton River.

I will forward wit: this report a chart of the

The piracy occurred

somewhere about south of Lintin Island, two or three

miles only from the line dividing British from Chinese

waters. I don't credit the pirates with having the

knowledge as to whether they were in British or Chinese

waters at the time of their breaking out, and I muln-

tain that it could have been carried out with equal

ease and safety ten miles further east, well into

British territorial waters.

You will notice from the chart that the first

half of the journey, viz. from Hongkong to Wong Mun

(a Chinese Customs Station) is in comparatively open

water, and during that part of the voyage we had

always felt every security. Needless to say, that

confidence is gone now. I would remark that it is a

very rare thing to see a war vessel of any nationality

during the first half of the voyage.

On the second half of the trip, from Wong Mun to

Kong Mun, through narrow waters, we have for some

months