The smuggling of arms and ammunition into China of late has increased so rapidly that it is now a problem of the utmost gravity. Nowhere is it more glaringly manifested than in Hongkong, where the growing number of armed robberies and persistent defiance of the law as regards this illegal traffic recently led the Hongkong Government to consider the whole question afresh with a view to evolving more stringent measures for its suppression, As a result of these deliberations new penalties are to replace the old. These have been embodied in an order issued by the Captain Superintendent of Police which runs thus Any person found in possession of arms or ammunition without a licence from the Captain Superintendent of Police is liable to penalties which may extend to ten years imprisonment with hard labour and flogging, Passengers for or through Hongkong with fire-arms not covered by licence are warned to hand over such arms to the Captain of the ship, before arriving in the Colony. Persons arriving in the Colony are warned to notify any arms or am. munition they possess to the Police immediately upon arrival, The penalties are extremely severe but few people will find fault with them. In Hongkong, especially, where there is a continual influx of undesirables from Canton, the presence of large quantities of arms and ammunition in the Colony is a distinct menace to the European popula tion and no measures can be deemed too stringent which have as their' purpose the suppression of this iniquitous traffic, Pexine, Sept. 25.—The Chihli Party now assert that the election -plans are progressing rapidly. They state that the preliminary meeting will be held on September 30 and that the election will take place before October 5.—Reuter.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.