Assessor, went on Leave and his place was taken by Mr. E. W. Mead.
Inquests.—During the month there were nineteen inquests, six of which were held on the bodies of victims of motor car accidents; two were killed by tramcars and one bya handcart. The verdicts given in other cases were manslaughter one, natural causes two, suicide one and murder six. With one exception all the murders were due to armed robbers and the victims included two Chinese constables, two shroffs, and a wheelbarrow coolie escorting a load of silver dollars. The exception referred to was the murder of a Chinese by his wife and her two sweethearts. The woman mentioned in the last case and her two accomplices were sentenced to death and handed over to the Native Authorities for execution.
Trafic Court.—In consequence of the large increase in the number of traffic cases the Court found it necessary to limit the number of cases to be heard at any one session to forty-five, the Court contending that more cases than this could not be properly investigated in one afternoon and that any cases in excess of this number were to be held over to the following week.
Gambling.—Police measures to stop gambling caused 419 persons to be charged, the majority of whom preferred to forfeit their bail rather than appear in Court. If for any reason the accused are refused bail, their counsel in nearly every instance say that according to their instructions their clients are the innocent victims of sharpers, etc. The same story holds good in opium -ases too.
Chinese Civil Cases.—159 petitions which will require a hearing were filed during the month, thus creating a new record, while the number of cases awaiting a first hearing has increased from 76 to. 94. In one case the subject matter was 2 petition for a divorce between Russians and the Court (Messrs. Tsang and Ivanow) decided that this Court was unable to accept the petition on the ground that Russian law only, recognized the religious marriage which can only be dissolved by the proper religious court and not by a civil court.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.