To the Editor of the "NortH-Cutxa Datey News."
Si—Two incidents vecordéd uring the week-end show the apathy. of the Chinese towards a fellow being in distress,—one the story of an aged countryman who was knocked down by a riesha, and who was assisted by a foreigner, his own nationals standing by laughing: the other a grimmer story, of a Chinese being shot and then beaten to death with iron bars on Friday' morning.
This last took place, not in a quiet, unfrequented spot, but in the heart of a fair-sized native sett ment on the main road, half way between Edinburgh Road and Jes: field Par The writer parsed near the spat at noon on Friday after an interval of one and a half hours. There was a dense crowd in the roadway, every man, woman and child of the village must have gathered there, The writer learnt later that a man had been shot and that the murderee had escaped. Had he been killed by the shot doubtless the tragedy would have been over before help could be summoned, but if he were beaten to death it must have taken Jong enough for an alarm to be given. Yet no one seems to have done anything to help the unfor tunate victim, rather they must have looked on while he was being done to death, There are three foreign places in the immediate vicinity, within a few yards of the scene of the tra geely, from any one of which a telephone message might have been sent to the police who would Dably have been in time to ai.|the murderers if not to save the A passage leads from the ain road to all three places, $0 that a person wishing to give infortion aight easily have done out attracting the attention of the is terrible to think that such a grim tragedy should have been enacted almost within earshot of a number of foreigners who could have given assistance of some kind, and who learnt only when it was too late of what had happened at their very doors.
It is sincerely to be hoped that the murderers will be caught and Drought to justice. It is said that the man who was so cruelly dono to death owed a small sum of money, to one of them.
Tam, ete,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.