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they wished, and experience has shown that the Canton police can be very efficient where the interests of the Government are concerned. They would doubtless welcome the admission that they were entitled to function on British ships, and would forth- with place a few men on each vessel, who would loll about and do nothing, but if a proper squad of searchers were to be provided daily for each ship, special payment would undoubtedly be demanded, just as some of the British companies already pay for special wharf police. The fact that a number of Chinese passengers would incidentally be saved from pirates is not. I am afraid, an argument that would appeal to the local police authorities.
6. So far as Canton itself is concerned, I do not think that the necessity for extraordinary measures to deal with piracy has yet arisen. The river steamers all leave at the same time and travel more or less together for mutual protection. The British ships are fitted with grilles and carry armed guards, and most of them have wireless. The run is a short one about seven hours. If a ship were overdue, suspicions would immediately be aroused and there are always warships fairly near. I do not say that a piracy would be impossible, but it would be very risky, and, in fact, none has occurred on any of the Hong Kong-Canton river steamers for many
years.
7. The British coasting vessels coming to Canton are confined to the ships belonging to Jardine, Matheson and Co. (Limited) and Messrs. Butterfield and Swire. The former company's vessels take no passengers from Canton, and there- fore the question of search does not arise in their case. Messrs. Butterfield and Swire do take a certain number of Chinese passengers, and I enclose a memorandum by the local representatives describing the precautions taken. The company's agent and the shipmasters, whom I have interrogated, consider that there is very little likelihood of pirates embarking in Canton, and that the precautions already taken are sufficient. Their reasons are that all their ships go straight from here to Hong Kong, where the vessels are thoroughly searched by the Hong Kong police. The passengers taken from Canton in their ships are of the poorer class of Chinese, who travel on deck and are not worth robbing or taking for ransom. Wealthy Chinese invariably take a river steamer to Hong Kong and tranship there for their ultimate destination. Cargoes taken from Canton consist of fruit, palm-leaf fans, and other commodities of little value from a pirate's point of view. The valuable cargoes, like silk, are also sent by river steamers to Hong Kong for transhipment abroad. More- over, as in the case of the river steamers, the shortness of the run between Canton and Hong Kong would make a piracy between the two ports a hazardous proceeding. 8. Apart from the above two classes of ships, there are a number of small river steamers and launches plying between Hong Kong and Wuchow, which call at river ports in the delta other than Canton. These are often molested by the various pirate gangs operating in the inland waterways of this province. They sometimes pay toll for protection, and sometimes they are attacked either from without by pirate launches, or from within by pirates disguised as passengers. The piracy of the steamship Kochow," described in my despatch No. 154 of the 6th September, is an example of the latter method, while the report contained in my despatch No. 192 of the 17th November is typical of the former. These vessels, however, touch at ports of call where the Maritime Customs do not function and where the Chinese authorities are not yet sufficiently organised or competent to afford proper protec- tion, and I am afraid it would be useless to take up the question of searching in their case.
9. The British West River flotilla, consisting of five gunboats and three armed launches. renders valuable service in patrolling these waters, but it is practically alone in this work. Although the French and Americans have two gunboats each, and the Japanese one, these Powers do little or nothing to assist in anti-piracy measures, their vessels remaining for the most part in Canton except when they are at Hong Kong. It would be a good thing if they could be induced to provide more ships of a suitable type and co-operate with us in a regular patrol of the delta, but as they have but little direct interest in the inland waters trade, I presume they would be reluctant to incur the expense involved. For the rest, so far as inland piracy is concerned, there is nothing to do but wait until the provincial Government is again in a position to turn its attention to this curse, which has afflicted the people of South China in greater or less degree from time immemorial.
I have, &c.
J. F. BRENAN.
Enclosure 2 in No. 1.
Memorandum on the Searching of Chinese Passengers for Arms.
LOCAL procedure bearing on the searching of passengers is framed with a view to what is possible in the varying circumstances in which work is carried on and the necessity of protecting the persons of Customs employees from the consequences of grave bodily harm at a time when people are more prone to rioting and more difficult to control than they ever were before a recent case when a Customs employee was arrested and badly mauled by those who had no right to effect arrest serves as a reminder that the turbulence of a noisy crowd of passengers cannot be depended upon to content itself with noise and bluster only-justifies me in submitting that at Canton all is being done in connexion with the searching of passengers that is desirable and practicable. The proportion of passengers generally who are searched for arms is, of course, short of what it might be if a larger staff were available, but the results achieved have not been inconsiderable when the effort which it has been found possible to direct into this channel is taken into consideration.
The proportion of piracies to the number of steamers on the high seas in this part of the world cannot be said to be decreasing; on the other hand, indignation over these constant occurrences has most certainly been steadily growing. There would, however, appear to be nothing mysterious about these piratical attacks, which to a great extent may be held to be the unmistakable effect of one ordinary cause, i.e., failure to effect vigorous search of all passengers before they are allowed to embark, and it is obviously in the highest interest of both Hong Kong and Canton that the authorities on both sides should come into line and co-operate to check these outrages which have been such a fruitful source of damage in the past. It may be objected that the proposal to search all passengers before embarking, although a sound ideal, is beset with so many difficulties as to be beyond the reach of attainment, but at a time when all concerned are confronted with a situation of so much gravity, the difficulties of carrying the suggestion into practice would not seem to be any reason for discarding the ideal.
It seems to me that the utilisation of the local police machine for the purpose of searching passengers before they are allowed to embark and come under Customs control, or even on wharves and jetties, would be an invaluable contribution to the work now done by Customs searching parties and that assistance of this kind might exercise a restraining influence over those who are out for plunder. The existence of extra-territoriality may, perhaps, make it difficult for the foreign consuls to accept help from the local police authorities on foreign-owned property for fear lest help thus given should violate the principles underlying the rights of their nationals, yet the situation is so hopeless without immediate resort to steps of the most drastic and most comprehensive kind that, unless both sides should be willing to accept responsibility to the fullest extent, the results achieved would be likely to be of a somewhat negative kind. Any decisions which might be reached by the representa- tives of the British and Chinese Governments would, of course, not bind other foreign Governments, unless these subsequently decided to come into line.
I may add that the Inspector-General will not be bound by any views expressed by a port commissioner.
R. F. C. HEDGELAND.
Commissioner of Customs.
Custom House, Canton, November 17, 1927.
Enclosure 3 in No. 1.
Memorandum respecting Chinese Passengers Embarking on C.N. Co. Coast Steamers at Pak Hin Hok Wharf.
PROCEDURE is for a shroff on the staff of the ship's compradore to visit boarding and lodging-houses on vessel's arrival to collect passengers. Passengers are provided with
guarantees" by the boarding-houses, and are escorted to the ship by the boarding-house runner and the steamer compradore's shroff. The number of passengers travelling varies from thirty or forty to as many as 100.
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