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that whilst the opium was being transferred to a lighter
a messenger soldier was drowned and that "taking into
consideration the Wanhsien incident and the consequent
ill-feeling of the Wanhsien population and our mutual
exertion to re-establish the former friendly relations,
such happenings go a long way to wards frustrating the
best intentions."
The amount of opium was such that prima facie
it should have been discovered by the foreign officers
on board, but at the same time His Majesty's Consul-
General points out that the opium would have been put on board after dark when the officers (Master and Engineer) were asleep, that the ship got under weigh in the dark the following morning and arrived at
Wanhsien the same evening, so that there was no time when the master and engineer would not have been fully
occupied with their duties. It appears also that short-
ly after her arrival at Wanhsien the ship was searched by a party from His Majesty's gunboat stationed there,
but without result. It was while the officers of the
ship were at dinner on board the gunboat that the opium which had been concealed in a looked room amidships was removed, and the Master knew nothing about the incident until his subsequent trip.
10.
On the matter being brought to his notice the Consul-General wrote to the British shipping companies warning them that unless they took some drastic steps really to make impossible the carrying of large blocks
of urmanifested cargo, in the event of the officials at
Wanhsien making any definite move against the freedom
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