Sessional_Paper_1927 — Page 173

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L.-CASE OF THE S.S. "HENG AN".*

Pirated on 22nd December, 1926.

M.-CASE OF THE S.S." "YUAN AN" *

Pirated on 2nd January, 1927.

N. CASE OF THE S.S. "SHANG BEE”. Pirated on 27th January, 1927.

XIV.-Letter of 7th February, 1927, from H. 'M. Consul-General, Canton,

to Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs, Canton.

Sir,

I have the honour to refer to my letter to you of November 25th last regarding the piracy of the British steamer "Sunning" by the gang of pirates who have their base at Bias Bay. On that occasion I was authorized to offer to the Canton Government the cooperation of the British authorities in the suppression of this menace, which had been allowed to continue unchecked for months, and was responsible for the piracy on the high seas of a long list of British, Chinese and other vessels.

On December 3rd I was informed by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs that the Can- ton military authorities were not opposed to such cooperation and it was suggested that a joint committee should be formed to decide on the plan of action, and, on December 6th I received your letter asking that a representative from Hong Kong should come to Canton to discuss the matter.

In accordance with this request, Mr. Wolfe, the Captain Superintendent of Police in Hong Kong, accompanied by the Assistant Superintendent of Police came to Canton and attended a meeting on December 14th at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs with the representative of the Canton Military Headquarters, and Mr. Y. Wai of the Foreign Office. I also was present. We were informed by the military representative that operations against the Bias Bay pirates were then being undertaken by troops of the 18th Division supported by Chinese gunboats. All offers of cooperation by the British authorities in undertaking this operation were refused and even the offer to attach British officers to the Chinese force in the capacity of observers and guides for the location of the pirate villages was declined. We were repeatedly assured that the Chinese troops would effectively exterminate the pirates in the whole of the Bias Bay area, and no assistance was required. In the face of this attitude, all that the British authorities could do was to supply the Canton Government with a plan of the district showing the pirate haunts and a list of the known pirates with particulars of their villages and previous crimes. The plan was handed to Mr. Wai at the meeting on December 14th and I sent you the list with my letter of December 22nd.

After the offers of cooperation made by the Hong Kong Government and the repeated assurances given by the Canton Government that the pirates would be exterminat- ed, the British authorities were entitled to expect that effective action would be taken. What then has been the result? It is now known that no Chinese troops were sent to the North and East of Bias Bay where the pirates are located, and that their villages were left untouched. Moreover since the date when the above mentioned assurances were given three more vessels have been pirated by the Bias Bay gang, namely the Chinese steamer "Heng An" on December 22nd, the Chinese steamer "Yuan On' on January 2nd, and on January 27th the British steamer "Seangbee" was seized on her way from Singapore to Hong Kong and taken to Bias Bay, where she was looted in the same manner as the previous vessels.

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*Under Chinese flag.