180
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point is confirmed by the passengers on the vessel who say that the pirates spoke the Pinghoi dialect.
5.
Pinghoi lies beyond Bias Bay which is the next Bay to the Eastward of Mirs Bay, and is a notorious resort of robbers and pirates. In this connection the following curious circumstance came to light recently. On the 4th. of February Vice- -Admiral Sir Martin Jerram informed me that the Master of the S. S. Aldenham", a British Merchant vessel trading between Hong- -kong, Japan, and Australia, had signalled to the Naval Intelligence Officer in Hongkong that he had observed on the lst. February a Japanese Steamer apparently belonging to the Osaka Shosen Company off Mendoza Island steaming towards the shore, and that on the approach of the S. S. Aldenham" she turned and steamed in the opposite direction and then towards the North East. The report added that the Japanese vessel was apparently anxious that her name should not be read.
Enquiries from the Police here elicited the fact that on the 29th. of January the Osaka Shosen Company's steamer "Daigi Maru" was searched by the Police prior to her departure on what was regarded as trustworthy information that she had a considerable quantity of Tinchester Rifles on board in contravention of the law. The search, which was not as thorough as it would have been had the information been received earlier before the vessel's departure, was unsuccessful. A Police detective was sent to Bias Bay after the receipt of the Admiral's report but he failed to elicit any information on the subject of a visit there by a Merchant steamer. He, however, reported that at 2 villages about 10 miles West of Pinghoi there were about
1,000 armed pirates who live by piracy only; and that these men
when the Chinese Authorities send troops to disperse them seek
refuge in the guise of fishermen in British Territory.
6.
I have communicated with the Chinese
Authorities through the Consul-General at Canton concerning this
gang
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