NEWS FROM THE FAR EAST

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 117, 25 August 1910, Page 3

NEWS FROM THE FAR EAST

SENSATIOiNAL PLRATICAL ATTACK. Hong Kong, July 15. {Notwithstanding the numerous foreign and Chinese gunboats which patrol the China seas and waterways, it is a patent and unwholesome fact that piracy still flourishes. Not only are pirates a terror to the peaceful inhabitants of China, but v.li-y are a real menace to trade, and until ilioy are ell'ectually stamped out, .commerce must suffer. Their attacks upon their own countrymen in the south are numerous and are, apparently, considered of little moment by the dilatory, and often corrupt, officials. It is only when foreign craft are interfered with tiiat resentment against these outlaws [ develops into exterminating expeditions. Then, for a few weeks or month*, foreign and Chinese guniboata' nequeno tno haunts.of these, rascals, wiho vanish, to reappear at a more convenient season. Seldom are they overtaken and brougnt to justice. After a fruitless search the gunboats are recalled, report spreads that piracy is dying out, and all is quiet until a recrudescence sets in.

iSEv'iBNTIiJiN BUiuS KIDNAPPED. One of the most sensational piratical attacks of recent years occurreu on , the Portuguese island of Colowan ou Tuesday, when the Portuguese were surprised to lind an outlaw stronghold In their territory. His Excellency Senor Marques, Governor of Macao, received a complaint from a Hong Kong Chinese merchant stating that ibis son and sixteen other boys were imprisoned by pirates on the island of Taipa. These boys have been kidnapped in China, and were taken to Taipa to be held for ransom. Later the Governor learned that the kidnapped youths were on the island of Colowan, and a Chinese offered to guide a rescue' party to the place where they were concealed. His Excellency instructed the military authority at Taipa to proceed to Colowan, release the boys, and take prisoner the party who held them. BRUSH WITH THE iPIfiATES,

The Commandant of Taipa laiiaed at Colo wan on Tuesday morning with fifteen men, aiid accompanied by the thirtyfive .sOiUiers in garrison on the latter island, proceeded to the house in which the bo.\ d were said to be imprisoned, and on attempting to enier, found resistance. A ngty, lonowed, in which a number of pirai.es and two Portuguese soldier's were Killed. The pirates, however, were overcome, and. (taalvjhg out of the village, nukio for the hills. The soldiers following, had almost succeeded in surrounding ihtin when they found themselves, attacked in the rear by- a strong force. Then the tables were turned,, and they found' it expedient to beat a hasty retreat. Ah officer was immediately despatched to the Governor to request reinforcements, and to inform him that the villagers had thrown in their lot with the pirates. An extra hundred men were despatched with a mountain gun, and after a night's rest the enlaiged force attempted to enter the village on Wednesday morning. But even this lorce was found inadequate to overcome the two hundred odd well-armed pirates, who were supported by the rebel villagers. After withstanding a galling rifle fire the soldiers were compelled again to retire, and it was found that the mountain gun was not heavy enough to silence the village.

VILLAGE BOMBARDED. The news of a second repulse induced the Governor to send more men and bigger guns, and the attack on the village was recommenced. Meantime the pirates had erected barricades, and as the soldiers attempted to clear, these they were subjected to such a hot fire that they were again compelled to seek shelter. During a lull in the fighting the gunboat Macao appeared off the island, and after consultation it •' was' decided to bombard the village. • : The wom'en and .children were asked to leave and were guaranteed a safe passage by the Portuguese. This, however, they declined. The bombardment then began, the guns of the artillery and of the gunboat playing on the village until it was in ruins. But the inhabitants and pirates have not yet been subdued. Climbing the hills, they took refuge in'granite forts, which have been erected on various parts of the island, and sheltered behind-these they are able to pour a deadly fire into any approaching force. The pirates have therefore to I be dislodged .from the hills before hostilities can be said to be concluded. The island has now been surrounded in order to prevent any of the rebels escaping. Yesterday morning a flag of truce was hoisted and the Governor of Macao, landing on the island, announced that he would give the pirates and villagers .until this morning to surrender. Failing this a bombardment of the forts would be commenced by the artillery, the Macao and the newly-arrived gunboat Patria. The latter vessel is much heavier armed than the Macao. Just before the dosing of this mail news arrived that the pirates were still holding out and that the bombardment had been renewed. A Chinese flotilla of ten gunboats are standing off Coiowan. They have offered their assistance to the Portuguese in suppressing the rising, but it has not been accepted. The island of Colowan is about four miles from Macao, and is one of the disputed islands included in the Macao Boundary Delimitation Commission, but the present trouble has nothing to do "with that Commission. Colowan has been a pirate stronghold for more than thirty years, and besides containing numerous forts is said to Ibe practically honeycombed with caves and places of hiding. The pirates were found to be equipped, with modern weapons of war and to be using smokeless powder, which was no doubt obtained from smugglers.