Feb. 2, Wuen, in November last, the Hongkong Government announced that a committee was at long last being convened to deal further with the vexed question of piracy prevention in South' China waters, and it was seen that on.that Committee all of the interests directly concerned with the problem were represented (with the notable exception of M, Navy), there was a general hope, if'not' actually a belief, in shipping circles that, if freed from outside interference and left unfettered in the scope of its activities (so far as they concerned the subjugation of the South China pirate), the Committee would eventually bring about a really satisfactory scheme of piracy prevention and one which would be acceptable to all concerned, What actually happened, as will be seen from the voluminous minority report which has been made public, was that the Committee never laboured as such, for at the very first meeting the Chairman voiced the Hongkong Government's dictum that the Committee had been convened only to consider proposals for the amendment of the existing piracy regulations and that the general question of piracy prevention apart from the regulations was not to be discussed. The membership of the Committee consisted of seven—four Government nominees, and one representative each of the Hongkong General Chamber of Commerce, the Hongkong Chinese Chamber of Commerce, and the combined Officers' Guilds. The three last-named members joined the Committee in the clear belief that the work to be done was an examination of the whole subject and an exploration of all avenues; as representing the shipowners and the personnel of the ships, they knew beyond doubt or cavil that the existing regulations (which apparently were framed without reference to those directly and vitally concerned) had been given more than a fair trial and that experience had proved that the whole system was wrong. Was it surprising, then, that on being that informed their labours the more important and useful than adding a few trimmings and embroideries to an unsatisfactory and unpopular set of bureaucratic regulations, they felt impelled to withdraw from the Committee at the onset and submit a minority report of their own with a definite request that it be accorded full publicity at the earliest date?
A careful perusal of that minority report, and a consideration of the whole piracy question since it first assumed serious Proportions (some three yee ago) brings about the following conclusions: (a) The Hongkong Government considers that the existing regulations, with a few: amendments, can be made to meet the situation in a satisfactory manner. The shipowners and the officers are of opinion that the regulations are impracticable and unworkable, should be scrapped entirely and replaced by an entirely new [scheme formulated by those who know their subject. (b) The Government is of opinion that ithe system of grilles everywhere Jon merchant ships is to be desired. The owners and - the officers' say that they are both fan encumbrance and an added danger. The same remarks: apply to fortified and defended parts of the ship. (c) Indian Jeuarde—there are 900 of them jon British ships running from Hongkong and they cost $270,000 year—are considered by the Government to constitute ~an important, essential means of protection. The officers and the owners appear mostly to consider them an unnecessary expense, an encumbrance in that they are very unamenable to discipline, and a danger in that they cannot always be relied on. (d) The Government is apparently satisfied with the present method of police searches vessels leaving Hongkong. The and the owners consider that the system leaves much to be desired. (e) The owners and the officers, while admitting that the present convoy system has! not proved entirely valueless, contend that it is a serious interference with trade and that it) constitutes an unfair handicap'
those companies which have spent large sums in acquiring fast vessels. (The speed of any leonvoy is necessarily limited to that of its slowest member). (f) The owners and officers consider that, allowing. a reasonable time for the installation of and the training of ators, wireless on vessels in the danger zone should be made compulsory. The Government has as. yet given no definite indication of its policy on the subject.
The crux of the whole matter, however, and the point on which the views of the Government and the shipowners appear at present to be quite irreconcilable, is the question of the employment of Naval patrols. The Hongkong, Government seems determined to continue in its policy of placing the defence of ships under the control of the police authorities; the Navy has consistently been ignored in this matter; no Naval representative was invited to. serve on the Committee; and even ina raid on a pirate lair which took place some days ago near Waichow, it was a salient] fact that it was not H. M. Navy which ce-operated with the Chinese troops, but the Hongkong police instead. The owners. and the officers want permanent Naval patrols; no less authority than Sir Arthur Leveson has stated that they are the only remedy to the situation and the senior Naval Officer in charge of West River Defences has stated in addition that the only alternative to the present unsatisfactory system is to have Permanent patrols by armed Naval launches.
Thus we have the people who really are concerned and who really should know—the si owners, the officers, and expe enced Naval authorities—unre-[served ly advocating that the pr sent system be scrapped in its entirety, that the Navy should take over all piracy prevention work on the water, and that the Hongkong Police should confine their activities in the matter of shore precautions and searches; and the Hongkong Government, in face of opposition and of the: result of experience, maintaining; its adamantine policy of adhere ing to a system which indubit ably has been proved unsound, unnecessarily expensive and generally unpopular. There is Possibly some good reason for
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.