Sessional_Paper_1927 — Page 62

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follows.

The reply of the Commissioners, following the order of the terms of reference,

III. (a) to inquire how it was possible for the pirates to get on board

the ship with arms in their possession.

1. Searching at coast ports.

The Hong Kong Government at the request of the Commission addressed a letter to the authorities concerned at the ports of Shanghai, Foochow, Amoy, Swatow, Kwong Chow Wan, Pakhoi, Hoihow, Saigon, Haiphong, Bangkok, Singapore and to the Commis- sioner of Chinese Maritime Customs Kowloon, enquiring as to the regulations in force and the actual practice regarding the searching, other than by ships' officers and guards, of passengers either on shore or on board ship, of their baggage, and of cargo to which there is easy access on board ship, in order to prevent the smuggling on board of arms and ammunition. It is to be noted that enquiries were not limited to the area defined by the Piracy Prevention Regulations as the "Danger Zone", (which stretches from Amoy to Haiphong), as recent events have proved that pirate organisation is capable of covering a much wider field. The value of the searching methods employed by the Hong Kong au- thorities is considered under section VII paragraph 1 below, in which criticisms and sug- gestions locally made are dealt with separately. The replies to the Government's letter elicited the following facts:--

At the ports of Shanghai, Foochow, Amoy, Swatow, Pakhoi, Hoihow and the riverine ports the searching is done by the Chinese Maritime Customs. The Chinese Mari- time Customs service is a revenue collecting rather than a preventive service, and in consequence there is little searching of passengers and their baggage on outward bound steamers; in fact passengers' baggage is interfered with as little as possible. At the ports of Saigon and Haiphong the local French authorities are chiefly concerned with the pre- vention of the smuggling into Indo China of arms and ammunition. At Singapore there is no searching except on information. The reply from Bangkok stated that outward bound deck passengers were thoroughly searched by the police. Similarly at Kwong Chow Wan, from which port however there are only three steamers the s.s. "Hydrangea" (British) and the s.s. "Hanoi" and the s.s. "Song Bo" (French) engaged in the passenger trade. It is evident therefore that at any port (with the exception perhaps of Bangkok, and Kwong Chow Wan) on the coast between Shanghai and Singapore it is an easy matter, as far as shore searching is concerned, to smuggle on board arms and ammunition.

2. Searching by ships' personnel and Indian guards.

It remained to examine the value of such searching as was possible by ships' per- sonnel and the Indian guards, and the Commission was left in no doubt that, in the con- ditions of modern trade, effective searching on board the ship is practically impossible. In port all the ship's personnel is particularly busy time is of value and the ship is a hive of humanity, stevedores, coolies, passengers, agents, messengers all jostling each other. The decks are a litter of cargo; and cargo boats and sampans of all descriptions necessarily cluster thickly alongside.

The Indian guards are utilised, if at all, more as sentries on the gangway than as searchers, and the little they could do in the way of searching would be quite ineffec- tive. A really effective search would entail such a large staff or so much delay, probab- ly both, as to make it to all intents and purposes impossible.

3. Guarantee for passengers.

One Company appears to demand from its Compradore some sort of guarantee for every passenger. The guarantee form however as submitted to the Commission con- tains no sanction: and in the circumstances of the passenger trade on the coast the guarantee appeared to the Commission to be of no value. Whether stricter conditions would make it of value, or whether the change would destroy the traffic, is a matter for each Company to decide for itself.