The situation occasioned by this decision is rather a peculiar one. The. Hongkong regulations concerning the carrying of passengers to and out of Hongkong in British ships require a special licence in the ease of ships carrying more than {2 passengers in all, foreign and Chinese, these regulations having special regard to piracy prevention, Not all British companies have availed themselves of this special Ticence as it can readily be understood that vessels carrying maximum of 12 passengers would be extremely unlikely to be pirated by those travelling and it is further unlikely that pirates would ever attempt a piracy in such restricted accommodation. In practically all eases of piracy, the perpetrators have. mixed themselves with the hordes of Chinese deck and steer passengers who travel continually and down the coast and thus have evaded detection, us it is impossible to single out, say, a dozen potential pirates from a crowd of three oF four hundred Chinese who look more or less alike and are drawn from the same class. This situation does not, of course, obtain when a yexinum of 12 passengers are being transported There inno. doubt, however, that a company which has not previously failed tat of the regulation above referred to ill take steps to enter Into the scheme provided by the War Omee for piracy prevention.
Tes well known that the situation hasbeen. causing. shipping come 'a.m. and at that hour the Chinese quartermaster on watch was on the! top of a ladder aft when a man came up towards him. The quarterster questioned the intruder as to his right in this locality, whereupon the man produced a revolver which apparently was the signal to more of the gang, for a dozen or more rushed up the ladder flourishing revolvers and quickly overpowered the quartermaster. They then. gagged and bound him and threw him in @ dark corner. The balance of the gang had already got busy and the-whole lot proceeded to the ship's quarters and ransacked many cabins. Seeing a launch approach ing, they snatched up a few article and hastily made their escape by the aft Indder. Entering sampans they successfully got away and so far, our report says, have not been apprehended. The matter was reported to the British authorities and investigations are now proceeding.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.