Mar. 18.
Sixce January 1 when the IMixed Court was handed over ¢o ithe Chinese and became the Provisional Court, its-doings natur-Jolly have been watched very] closely, From the outset there appeared to be a disposition on the Judges' part to discount [Police evidence heavily; new, standards of heinousness seemed [to have been set up and opium smoking to be a greater offence than armed robbery.—Hitherto Jeriticism has been withheld. It Iwas only fair to give the Court time to settle down and.to leave the smoothing away of irregularities to private representation, So far, however, from things improving, they have been growing steadily worse and it is limpossibie longer to keep silence.
From the beginning it has obviously been useless to bring labour agitators before the Provisional Court." Openly the \Judges grasped at every opportunity to dismiss the charge and Jwhere they could not help conlvieting they have imposed no more than nominal sentence. This week, for instance, an Jagitator caught in the act of inciting strikes and distributing inflammatory pamphlets, some of which were found in his lodgings together with an axe and a sword, was merely bound over to keep the peace. Again, a shop assistant caught in the act of threatening personal violence to certain workers if they did not lgo on strike, is acquitted on the ground that he is not a "workman" and therefore does not leone within the scope of the Chinese Criminal-Code.—Many more cases could be quoted, some Ino doubt, worse. Can the Judges be surprised if most people conclude that their decisions are influenced either by political pre-Jiudice or labour intimidation?
But the administration of th Court is shown in a still more unfavourable light in respect of lather cases where it would seem that there can be no scope for ithe influence either of politics! lor terrorism,—Miscroants w many previous—_convictions against them, charged with bur-slaty and returning to the Settle-iment after expulsion, are sent to gaol for a few months on the first charge while the second is imply ignored. In one such case Inst month the Senior Consul's Deputy, sitting beside the Chinese Judge, entered a strong, ij|Protest on the charge sheet:—"In the exchange of notes for the rendition of the Mixed Court," he wrote, "it is clearly stated that all the former judgements are valid.
consequence they should have to be enforced in the Provisional Court. Tu the case in question, the accused should have 6 be punished for returning from expulsion and re-Jexpelled, I am strongly afraid that if the former orders of " expulsion fare not enforced by the Chinese Judges and if new orders of ex-Dulsion are not issued in new cases, criminality in the Settlement will inereave in a very dangerous, ways especially the Chinese population, Chinese shop owners, Chinese banks, chinese merchants, rich Chinese, will be exposed every day to a terrible danger to their properties and their lives."
In another case when a charge lof returning from expulsion was; dismissed, the same Deputy wrote on the charge sheet: "By this judgment it seems to me the Chinese Judge invites all crimin-Jals who have been expetied in Jpast years to enter the Settle. ment." In contrast with these eases and with each other, we find 2 man convicted of stealing stones worth $1 from a grave sent to prison for six months, Iwhile another convicted of steal jing a dollar's worth of wood is sentenced to four days' imprison-Iment and a third, charged with stealing $2 worth of beans, is admitted to bail in the sum of is2, and naturally absconds. The practice of admitting men to bail thas opened up another abuse for which utile if any justification
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.