Travel on the small passenger launches which run in so many direeona from Hankow is rapidly bee coming impossible, In earier days the chief peril used to be that the rope which tied the steering apparatus together would break at Some unexpected moment and the launch would bury itself n a sandbank, But the last few days have shown piracy is increasing at a rate which shows beyond question the {tility of Local attempts to maine tain order.
On the 4th instant the launch which was on its way up. from Yanglo put in as usual at Wutangfor passengers. Five men dress-civilians came on board accompanied by one in uniform, After the launch had gone another few s, the six produced their wea~ pons." One guarded the steersman and one the engine-room, The other four reached the passengers and their Laggage. The launch waa ordered to stop at a certain pointy where a boat put out and took off the pirates and their loot.
On the 6th another launch, this time the one named Myriad Happinesses" was approaching the same place when a boat put out and so many hots were fired into the air that. the captain decided to stop, The men knew what they were after, for having removed a consignment of $2,000 in sycee they Jet the launch go.
And on the 6th a large Chinese passenger boat going down to some place not far below Hankow was stopped by a boat which put out from the Wuchang shore. "It. care ried ten armed men, and they took possession of $300'in cash which had been entrusted to the skipper. The whole thing is being done so systematically that, it is clearly the work of a gang. The fact that in every case some one or more of the pirates is in uniform is.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.