The following letter has been addressed to the Com Guild:
"Shanghai, being a large com. mercial port where Chinese and foreigners live together and engage in business, the population is a large onz and the presence of bad chat-acters is inevitable. However, there ave not been any serious unfortunate happenings and the people have lived in peace, this being mostly due to your efforts in maintaining order, and the residents are really grateful to you. However, owing to the degeneration of public morality in recent years, cases of robbery have become daily occurrences and highway robberies have—been frequently repor A robbery oe-curred not long wherein a large amount in Government hands was stolen, but the perpetrators of the crime were soon appre: tended. "Now a fresh robbery has in the Vu Yue Native Bonk, in broad daylight and in a business centre. If the activities of are not vigorously -ked, it is to be feared that more will be committed in future. The people have become greatly alarmed, If measures are not taken to prevent such oecurrences the local business market will undoubtedly he seriously affected As you are responsible for the Peace and order of this place we would like to know what progress has been made into the solution of the present case and what precautionary measures have been devised. You are therefore kindly requested If we are not mistaken this is the case in which the bank had installed alarm bells and the nien in the house were so terrified that. they dared not so much as look out of doors to see which way the robbers rent and did not notify the police until three hours after. the crime.
In these circumstances the letter quoted above strikes one as sheer pertinence.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.