163
PIRACY AND ITS SUPPRESSION.
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THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
[August 26, 1899.
he says, "that the advent of the steam- | Before proceeding to discuss those remarks "launch has concentrated the operations of an acknowledgment may readily be made of "the pirates, whereas before these opera- the immense services the Eastern Telegraph (Daily Press, 19th August.) will be seen by the correspondence
tions were far more scattered and each Co. and its off shoot the Eastern Extension in another column, the Committee
one was on a smaller scale. A large Australasia and China Telegraph Co. has "haul can now be made by seizing a big and rendered to commerce and to British-Im- kong General Chamber of Com-crowded passenger boat towed by a launch perial interests. A great system has been
de strong representations with
on a route where much money is conveyed built up by private enterprise, and acoord- to the widespread lawlessness and to and fro; and the towing launch, which ing to the Marquis of TWEEDDALE the consequent insecurity for trade prevailing is an easy capture, affords the outlaws a average dividend on the elder Company's in Kwangtung. The Chamber supports its "swift and sure means of escape with im ordinary capital during the twenty-seven case by a long list of outrages of which the particulars are known, and with these par speed in the case of a steamer-towed boat per cent., and only for the last two years mense plunder. Beside, the regularity of years of its existence has been exactly siz ticulars before them the authorities cannot is almost as sure as that of a scheduled has it been seven per cent. That is certainly but recognise that vigorous action is re-
railway train; so that a band of pirates not an extravagant return, judged by com. quired to cope with the evil. There may,
can arrange beforehand with certainty just parison with the returns made by many however, be some difference of opinion as
"when and at what spot to concentrate upon of our local joint-stock concerne. While to the character of the action to be taken.
ball Great Britain deal with the evil"vourable conditions did not prevail to the of the Cable Companies, however, it must "their prey to most advantage. These fa- cheerfully acknowledging the past servioss directly by her own officers, or confine her- all to making representations to and bring smaller numbers and smaller boats, and interests of the Empire require cheaper same extent when passengers travelled in be admitted that at the present time the pressure to bear upon the Chinese" when the want of steam made the voyages rates for commercial reasons and an all Government? Local opinion will strongly support the Chamber in urging that if any." influence of tide and of varying and un-political reasons.
"of uncertain speed and duration from the British cable connecting with Australia: főr
As the Times remarks in- thing effective is to be done the British gun-"certain winds, and escape was less sure." an article on the Eastern Telegraph Com. bost must show the way. There is, however, This may be so, but the concentration of pany's meeting, the more Lord TWEEDDALE one way in which the Chinese Government the operations of the pirates ought to proves that the company cannot or ought might be invited to co-operate, namely, by render it all the more easy to get at and not to reduce its charges the more he minintaining a flotilla of suitable armed effectively deal with them. Certainly it establishes the case for setting up some als commanded and officered by foreign makes the matter more conspicuous, and alternative agency less hampered by these er. After piracy on the coast had been Mr. DREW says the evil has become so crushing disabilities. sootched by the British it was afterwards
There is one passage in Lord TWEED- held in check and prevented from reviving grave that it can be lightly treated no by the small fleet of Canton gunboats, which lately organised a special system of pre-residents in the Far East who have followed longer. The Viceroy, he continues, "hasDALE's speech which will cause surprise to were actively employed on police duty, in- "vention of piracy, based on a detail of the history of the telegraphic, charges eluding revenue service. The late Captain
seven launches to definits sections on the STEWART, one of the commanders, a few
question. He said: They had been i years ago published his reminiscences of
reproached with the great inequalities” of: pirate hunting, and very good work he and
"tariffe. How were their tariffs fixed, his fellow commanders did. Since the Kowloon Customs were tranferred to Bir ROBERT HART's department the Customs cruisers have also rendered valuable assis tance in the prevention of piracy in the waters surrounding Hongkong. In the "a much more vigorous Government than unboats directly under the Canton Govthe Chinese would be put to an extreme iment, however, foreign commanders have "test of its resources in the effort to put a
stop to it.'
"We must confess our inabi- lity to endorse the last sentence. Other Powers dealing with people as prone to law- lessness as the Chinese manage to maintain order on their waterways, and we entertain no doubt whatever that British or other European officers would, if given a small waters of the Canton delta. but efficient flotilla, adequately police the
"
"
main water routes and supplemented by |** "guard-boats, all under the control of one
man. The provincial authorities have beWhy did these inequalities exist? The others who are not entitled to do so are come apprehensive that if they do not act," answer was simple. It was because the likely to interfere to stop the evil. But it ought to be admitted that the evil is a most difficult one to cope with, and that
(1
THE REDUCTION OF CABLE RATES
time been dispensed with, and the.. now handled are of little practical ity in the suppression of disorder. The bous employed on the West River go off from time to time to make a little by towing, and the officers and crews believed to enrich themselves by ing these profitable occupations have attractions for them than have en Lars with pirates, and the latter are thestore for the most part left alone, with the.connivance of officials who are not above compounding with the lawbreakers to their own advantage. It might be difficult to prove all this in detail, but the broad fact remains that the Canton authorities, whe ther from corruption or sheer incompetence, solutely fail to maintain order on the ways and matters have now reached pass that action on the part of the Government is urgently called for The first step should be to place suitable light British gunboats on the service, but the duty of maintaining order properly to the Chinese Government and the Her Majesty's vessels can only as temporary, the next step compel the Chinese Govern rovide a properly equipped fleet and to place it under the ad- ve and executive control of for- to be angaged by China for that What the old Canton flotilla did ssion and prevention of piracy the proposed new river flotilla be able to accomplish on
anton Customs report some-remarks to this I think it probable"
(Daily Press, 22nd Angust.) The Committee of the Hongkong General Chamber of Commerce at its last monthly meeting passed a series of resolutions on the subject of cable rates, to the effect that the present rate of 43. per word is excessive and admits of substantial reduction, that a fe- duction of the tariff would be followed by an increase in the traffic, that a Govern ment guarantee might be given if there is any hesitation on this point, that the prin- viple of cheap telegrams should follow the concession of a penny post, as it is certain to prove a powerful factor in promoting trade with the mother country, and that, so soon as the time seems ripe, an all British line should be constructed between the United Kingdom and its great colonies and dependencies either by laying a cable the whole distance touching only at British porta or by completion of the existing land lines. At the half-yearly meeting of the Eastern Telegraph Co., Limited, held on 20th July, the Chairman, the Marquis of TwardDALE, made some remarke which have a direct bearing on the above resolutions, the burden of his speech being a defence of the Cable Companies and their charges:
Ca.
"telegraph tariffs to Egypt, India, and the› Far East were practically controlled by "the European Governments through whose lines Sir HENNIKER HEATON suggested: to India was controlled by the trariffs of that competition should come. The tate! Germany, Russia, and Turkey to Ching? "and Japan by Russin and China; to “Egypt by Turkey. If any reduction was "to be made in the present tariffe it was. not the consent of the Cable Companies of the Governments mentioned,” “We do “that was in the first instance required, but not know so much about the European Governments mentioned, but the question at once suggests itself, who was it that induced agreement to keep up rates? Why, the the Chinese Government to enter into the
Cable Companies themselves. For those. Companies now to turn round and say they cannot reduce rates on account of the ob- struction of the Chinese Government cannot be characterised as anything less than dis- ingenuous. And it is impossible to avoid a suspicion that other Governments, like the Chinese Government, may have been in....... fluenced by the Cable Companies to keep up. rates instead of being persuaded to lower them.
In connection with the influence of Forsi eign Governments there is another point in Lord TWEEDDALE's speech that we should like to have some further explana- tion upon. He tells us in one part of this speech that the greatest obstacle to a reduc- tion of the present tariffs is the necessity for obtaining the consent of those Governments through the medium of whose lines dir Hm. NIKER HEATON proposes to reduce the Aus tralian tariff to la, per word, and in another part, referring to the demand foranall-British cable, he says:-" As a matter of fact, the " Eastern Company had cables from Grast Britain to Gibraltar, Gibraltar to Malta, * Malta to Egypt, and Egypt to Aden:
Bombay, the whole of
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