77
being given to the use of wireless telegraphy, and of the
question of compulsory installation being considered.
5. No comments ware offered on this recommendation, which
specially concerns Hongkong.
My discussions with local shipping interests have tended
to confirm the opinion expressed in my previous despatch that
so far as Shanghai in concerned effective search of ships
and passengers is not feasible without imposing undue
restrictions on shipping, and that the only real solution of
the piracy problem is to be found in action against the pirates
and their bases. As regards the internal defense of the
ships themselves I must confess to a good deal of sympathy with
the view expressed by the shipping sub-committee regarding the
difficulty of laying down any fixed rule as to the nature of
the protective measures to be adopted by all British ships
trading in the danger zone, and I am disposed to think that
such steps might well be left to the discretion of the owners.
This point is further complicated by the fact that whilst
the question of piracy primarily concerns the companies
operating local services on the China coast the possibility of
an attack upon an ocean steamship whilst travelling between
Hongkong and Shanghai cannot be altogether disregarded and in this
connection I would mention that the Canadian Pacific Railway
Company recently received an anonymous letter warning them of
a plot to seize one of their vessels. To devise any scheme of
internal defense applicable to all British steamships, both
"liners" and coasting vessels, which might possibly be subject
to a piratical attack appears to me to be practically
impossible, and whilst fully appreciating the advisability of
every reasonable precaution being taken by ship-omers for the
protection of their ships I should be inclined to recommend that
the precise nature of the defense measures to be adopted on any
particular vessel should be left to the decision of the owner
himself.
The
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.