CO129-416 - Public Offices - 1914 — Page 612

Copy.

No: 47.

Sir,

H.B.M.Consulate-General,

Canton.

May 8th, 1914.

605

Having reference to your despatches No:

33 of July 7th, 1913, and No: 49 of May 4th, 1914,

I have the honour to enclose copy of a despatch

addressed by Lieutenant-Commander Dixon, R.N.,

Senior Naval Officer, West River, to the Commander-in-

Chief, on the subject of piracy in the West River

and adjacent waters.

The suggestions put forward being mainly

of a technical nature I have very few observations to

make with regard thereto, beyond pointing out that

the cost of an Indian guard would be great and, as

previous experience in other spheres of non-military

employment has demonstrated, unsatisfactory ordinarily,

owing to the difficulty of maintaining discipline,

I would for my own part venture to recom-

mend to the attention of any Commission which Your

Excellency may see fit to appoint to deal with this

question, the consideration of installing at vital

points on the bridge and elsewhere some means of

projecting streams of scalding water on any persons

desirous of creating trouble.

So long as they have concrete cases with

which to deal, the Chinese authorities are, as at

present, likely to display vigilant energy,

but

when