CO129-515-1 Piracy- legal proceedings arising from sinking of S.S. 'IRENE' 18-1-1929 - 6-9-1929 — Page 76

Treaty of Tientsin which suggests that its

>3

operation was intended to be confined to the

high seas, and the presumption to the contrary

is very strong, since there had been important

and well known cases of action by British

warships against pirates in Chinese territorial

waters shortly before the signature of the

treaty.

Moreover, the wording of article

of the treaty between ühina and the United

States, of June 18th, 1858 (to the benefits of

which His Majesty's Government are entitled

under their m.f.n. rights) clearly contem-

plated action by the national vessels of the

United States in Chinese territorial waters.

It is, however, unnecessary to discuss the

treaty position further, since in any case the

proposal of r. Chen referred to in para-

graph 5, suggesting as it did that the most ef-

fective method of taking repressive action

against the pirates would be to station a

British gunboat at the entrance to Biam Bay,

which