The Alleged Assault on Board the C. N. S. Hangchow At H. M. Police Court last Friday morning, before His Honour Judge Grain (sitting as Police Magistrate), there was a further hearing of the case in which four Indian guards from the China Navigation Co.'s str. Hangchow were charged with having, on the night of December 12, assaulted a Chinese Post Office mail-carrier by striking him about the head, and of having handcuffed another mail-carrier to the steering gear of the vessel.
Inspector Mellows, of the River Police, was in charge of the prosecution, defendants being represented by Mr. J. G. Priestwood, whose services had been obtained since the hearing on Thursday.
The two coolies, regarding whose treatment the charge was laid, were recalled and gave further testimony regarding the alleged assault. Their evidence amounted in the main, however, to what they had stated at the previous hearing.
Captain T. Pickard, Assistant Marine Superintendent of the China Navigation Company, stated that it was no part of the duty of the guards for them to search either the baggage of passengers, or the mails, While the vessels on which they were engaged were in Shanghai harbour, the guards had no duties to perform. The master of the ship issued firearms to the guards, who were engaged and placed on the ships by the Hongkong police.
Witness stated in his evidence that masters of local vessels were becoming very particular regarding those who came on board the ships. Witness had been a ship's captain many years, and he would never order guards to search passengers or baggage unless he had specific instructions to do so.
A third coolie, who also was concerned in the trouble, stated that on the night in question he took 52 bags of mail to the Hangchow, and that after stacking some of the bags in the mail room he was call-deck. There he saw eight
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