CO129-515-1 Piracy- legal proceedings arising from sinking of S.S. 'IRENE' 18-1-1929 - 6-9-1929 — Page 19

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was captured on December 18th, 1925, by pirates

disguised as passengers and taken to Bias Bay;

that during the first six months of 1926 three

subsequent acts of piracy were perpetrated on

British Yessols by the pirates who had their

headquarters at that spot; that on November

15th, 1926, occurred the case of the "Sanning",

referred to above, and that further piracies

of British ships were carried out on the 27th

January, 21st Laroh and 30th August 1927. The

Chinese authorities were unfortunately unable,

in the conditions then prevailing, to take any

effective action to put an end to this state of

affairs, and it was to their inability to do so

that this serious and unchecked recrudescence of

piratioal activity must be attributed.

5.

Having regard to this series of out-

rages on British ships, and to the terme Of

Article 53 of the Treaty of Tientsin, repeated

representations were made on behalf of His

Kajesty's