4.
5-9
incidents of such a nature can be magnified into
National Calamities at will to serve the ends of
disgruntled politicians but in paragraph 9 he goes
on to state:-
(a) the amount of opium was such that prima.
facie it should have been discovered by
the foreign officers on board.
(b) it could have been smuggled on board when
the officers were asleep or engaged in
their duties.
(c) the ship was searched by a party from His
Majesty's gunboat stationed at Wanhsien
but without result. (We have underlined
the last three words in view of His
Majesty's Consul-General's remark under (a)
These comments show that in spite of the
large quantity involved it was relatively easy to
ship the opium but more than difficult to find it
SEARCH
even when a special/party was used, therefore the
strictures in paragraph
10. are in our opinion not deserved.
11. It appears evident that the particular
Shipping Company concerned has done what it can to
discipline its own staff but it is equally clear that the Navigation Bureau is not prepared to do its plain duty by assisting in removing and con- fiscating unmanifested cargo although in paragraph 8 General Yang Sen blandly quotes the Bureau as the
custodian of this particular traffic!
12 & 13. It seems clear from His Majesty's Consul-General's comments in these two paragraphs
that/
Page 60Page 61
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.