I feel bound to speak in terms of praise of the work of all branches of the Force throughout the year. To the Department responsible for good order,—local conditions, a8 you know, beget difficulties which tax all the resources of modern detective methods to a formidable degree. Of late years, especially, the Force has been called upon to deal with forms of crime new to Shanghai, of a kind which, in many other parts of the world have been the mark of periods of political change. For my own part I must it that I should never have imagined, say in the year 1910, that Shanghai would become haven of security for officials of the long-standing old regime. Still less could anyone have pictured some of i the consequences. In European capitals we have been accustomed to regard as a matter of course the sudden outbursts of the political assassin; the automatic pistol and tne bomb: and if they are not successfully prevented, it causes 10 particular surprise. 1t must be remembered that China is seething with changes. It is only navurat that people should be startled whea this sort of thing appears here. There are some, I know, who in the face of these new and impressive developments, are inclined to think that the Police Force should take this or that course, which they believe that it has not taken, or that they are due to this or that supposed deficiency in the Police procedure for the arrest and detection of criminals, Particniatly, we are told, rebels should be prevented from finding shelter in the Foreign Settlement. Just in this word "shelter" lies the mistake. That Shanghai, the centre of a tur-bu lent vernacular Press still in its infancy, has unquestionably become an important centre of political thought, is a fact which ought to be self-evident. But that any known political offenders or plotters find shelter in the Foreign Settlement, or any sort of toleration by the Police, I do emphatically contradict. Should there be any evidence I might almost say, any reasonable suspicion against individuals of the sort in question, ascertained by the Detective Branch, it is acted upon- with, if possible, less formalities than are required at home; and, of course, if any specific complaints against any specific person are lodged by the Chinese Government or by any creditable informant, the action which follo is immediate and effective. During the Inst year or two there has never been any delay or hesitation to bring any known refugee criminals before the Mixed Court for the usual preliminary hearing; and to the Chinese Authorities nably follows at once. Nothing is more difficult than to obtain from any of those who are interested in this subject, a clear, or definite indication as to how the existing procedure can give immunity to revolutionary activity, or to known criminals; but if we receive such an indication you may he confident that we shall not be slow to consider and to recommend a remedy. Now there may be some who think it unnecessary to dwell on these points. but they are 80 frequently entirely lost sight of. that I am inclined to believe that the Council has not often enough drawn attention to them. We have heard much about armed robbe: asin matter of fact their number during the year is but slichtly in excess of those of the year before. This is traceable to reasons which are easily observable to every think-the most obvious of been the dishendment or desertion of Chinese soldiery, who turn to Shanghai as the place best worth plundering. The apathy of the local Chintese shop-keeper at the moment of attack has given cause for repeated Police notices of late years urging them to.aise the alarm more readily. If in Shanghai there are any who deserve to be called arm-chair critics they must not forget that in the vast tract of closely populated country which enveloped the Settlement there is in reality no Police Force at all: there are numbers of men in uniform and with arms: but their training is military; and police organization is absolutely lacking. There is nothing with which our Force can effect any genuine cooperation towards crime prevention and detection, It must be quite frankly recognized on every hand that to prevent individuals bent upon crime from quickly entering the Settlement from one side or another and successfully effecting their object is, and will often in the future prove, impossible: those who are startled by crimes of this sort would do well to bear in mind that the arrest of these persons before they come in, is the duty of the authorities outside the eight-mile length of the Settlement boundary;—# boundary, we must remember, unprotected by any continuous barrier natural or artificial. In this great town where new conditions are ousting the old, and the nationals of little short of twenty countries are increasing in numbers, crime is bound to continue in a lesser or greater degree according to political and social conditions. The work of our Police is in my opinion marvellous; the number of captures effected ample proof of their ability and I often wonder that under all the adverse difficulties against which the Force has to contend it is able to carry out its work so. satisfactorily. To those who take an interest in this subject I would counsel a careful perusal of the published matter in the monthly and annual reports. The duty, which has been mine during long period, of reading the daily Police Reports of every incident which occurs, has brought me to the confidence that the efforts of the Force are becoming more and more satisfactorily fruitful.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.