According to the captain of the Kungwo, the opium was found in the fore-peak and had been brought aboard by passengers, who are described as "nothing more than opium smugglers." The part of the ship in which the discovery was mide was under the control of the Doatswain, who is reported to have said that he was forced to let the smugglers ship the drus, threatened with death if The search party came across the drug shortly after 4 p.m. and their attempting to take it away, were threatened by the passengers. This caused them to appeal to the Chief Oifcer, and the company's agent was sent for. This gentleman sot in touch with the harbour master who ordered the searchers to leave the drug alone, but by this time the police hud communicated with the Commissioner of Foreign Affi What went on between the boat again and the searchers is obscure.
The former is said to have offered the latter a "reward" of $2,000 for covering the drug. They, however, held out for $3,000. The boatswain thea reported the discovery to the police and the Customs officers were arrested as they were leaving the hulk, An hour later police came hack to the ship and demanded that the boatswain should go with them to the police station to give evidence, This the capt thorized, and half an hour later the boatswain returned with several policemen, pointed out to them where the opium had been found, and assisted the Customs, who were afraid to act without "police protection, in setting the drug off the ship. The boatswain, himself, was arrested as hho stepped on the gangway as the party were leaving, and despite the protests of the Chief Officer, was put into prison, Who is Getting The British Consul was then communicated with, and accompanied the agent, called on the Commission er of Foreign Affairs to obtain the man's release. After two hours fruitless conversation they returned et which had been held up pending settlement, to proceed on its way, provided the captain should sign form stating the number of bags taken, The ship cleared about 7.45 pam, The arrested men are Vu Pan-chin, the ship's boatswain, four Chinese and one Russian customs official, "In the opinion of the company the boatswain is being detained 8 a scapegoat. Inquiries made by the "North-China Daily News" at the company's Shanghai office and at other shipping companies resulted inthe information that opium smuggling is becoming an increasing problem on the Yangtze. Tt appears impossible to stop it, and one source freely hinted that there was a certain amount of official connivance by military in more than one port.
'The attempts at smuggling have become so daring, we were informed, smugglers have actually been to enter foreign engineers' cabins and try to conceal th traband there, where, if it were discovered, the foreign officers would ne held responsible. This has, for-been a failure in most vases so fur, the drug having been ound by the foreign officers.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.