CO129-490 - Public Offices - 1925 — Page 648

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whole question,

The British Naval Forces were practically

tied hand and foot to Canton and the defence of the great interests there. Starting with the Shameen bomb outrage

and progressing through the Shameen strike to the Volunteer Arms quetion, which concluded with the burning of parts of Canton and the disarming of the Canton Merchant Volunteers, there was hardly a breathing space during which any extensive

be even considered. campaign against the pirates could fast as one crisis was past and attention turned to anti- piracy another criis arose in Canton.

(3)

As

In spite of all this interruption a great deal has

General Li Fook Lum, been done to deal with the piracy evil. the appointed Chinese official to deal with the pirates, has been enormously handicapped by want of men and money and

An even greater

especially gunboats or armed launches. handicap is the tremendous jealousy between all the various

All districts are provincial troops and their commanders, parcelled out between these military commanders who extort

They are much too busy what is possible out of their areas. doing this to have time or inclination to bother about pirates who do not damage their own pockets and in many cases no doubt contribute to their fortunes as the price of being left alone, Consequently if any other General shows signs of moving or taking action in their personal area they at onde suspect him of designs on their posts and put every possible obstacle in his way, going as far as fighting him if they feel strong enough. There is no doubt whatever that much of the piratical trouble is due to their soldiers who pirate one day and resume soldiering the next. Even if they do not take an active part in piracy they do not take any active steps against it and nà

doubt