Sessional_Paper_1884 — Page 180

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Honourable F. Bulkeley Johnson gives notice of motion that Mr. Creagh's report of

21st June, 1877, be laid on table of Legislative Council.

Mr. Johnson to Clerk of Councils.

QUEEN'S ROAD, 4th December, 1882.

SIR,-I ask for leave to add to the terms of the second Resolution, of which I have given notice of motion, in Council to-morrow the following words "also that His Excellency be asked to lay upon the table the copy of the Report of Mr. CREACH, Acting Superintendent of Police, referred to in Despatch No. 45 of the 30th June, 1877, from Governor HENNESSY to the EARL OF CARNARVON,

ARATHOON SETтh, Esq.,

No. 109.

Clerk of Councils.

Your obedient Servant,

F. BULKELEY JOHNSON.

Acting Captain Superintendent of Police to Colonial Secretary.

VICTORIA, HONGKONG, 21st June, 1877.

•

SIR,-As I understand that His Excellency the Governor has under consideration the present state of the contraband trade in Salt and Opium between this Colony and China, I take the liberty of bringing to His Excellency's notice an aspect in this traffic which, although conspicuous from a Police point of view, may have escaped the notice of Officers connected with other Departments who have reported on the subject. His Excellency is doubtless aware that, beside the considerable business done in these articles by the ordinary traders, wholesale smuggling is carried on by vessels, constructed and equipped expressly for running the blockade of Revenue Cruisers, with Salt and Opium.

2. These vessels are built for fast sailing and are invariably well armed, and, when unable to escape by flight, they offer a desperate resistance to Revenue Junks. Naval engagements of this description have been witnessed from the shores of this Colony, and smugglers, when worsted in the encounter, have been known to fly to our waters for protection. A case of this sort occurred in November last outside the Kap-shui Mun pass, in which three or four Junks, after exchanging fire for some time with the steamer Ping-chao-hoi, sought refuge in this harbour, where they lay for several days in order to recover from the damage which men and boats had sustained in the engagement. No application for the rendition of criminals of this class has ever been made. While, under the protection of the British flag, they take but little pains to disguise their real character. Their boats may be readily distinguished from the ordinary trader by the physical as well as the numerical strength of the crew, and they are invariably well known to the boat population in the harbours they usually frequent.

3. From a Police stand-point the presence of a fleet of these vessels in the Colonial waters is by no means desirable. The construction and expensive equipment which prevents them from successfully com- peting in legitimate trade peculiarly fits them for piracy as well as smuggling (when increased competi- tion, or other causes, renders their ordinary business less profitable than usual). A class of men, trained up as these are in the open violation of their own laws, can hardly be expected to show much respect to

those of other countries.

I have the honour, to be,

The Honourable J. G. AUSTIN, C.M.G.,

Colonial Secretary.

Sir,

Your most obedient Servant,

C. V. CREAGH,

Acting Captain Superintendent of Police.

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