Junior American Assessors were absent during the greater part of the month owing to their consular duties in connexion with the bandit outrage at Lincheng. Mr. 0 Berger acted for Mr. Davis, while Messrs. Allman and Whitamore took over Capt. Ferrajolo's Criminal Sittings.
Criminal Cases.—The hearing list of Criminal Cases remanded for special hearings has been reduced to five, which means that the Criminal Calendar can be dealt with effectively, but it is probable that this state of affairs will not last for long. During the month a total of 7,675 persons were charged, the chief items being Assault 108, Murder 6, Wounding 4, Burglary li, Extortion 12, Larceny 376, Robbery 11, while 148 and 182 persons were charged with infringement of the Motor Car and Opium regulations respectively.
Tnquests—Of the ten Inquests held during May, 7 were the result of motor car accidents. Every death caused by a motor is carefully inquired into by the Court and if there is any evidence of reckless or careless driving. the chauffeur is sent to prison, but in the majority of cases the Court finds that the blame should not be attached to the chauffeur, but to the deceased.
House of Detention—At the beginning of the month there were 62 persons detained, the majority for, small amounts borrowed from professional money lenders and as_ the latter were unable to prove that the defendants had any assets, the Court ordered their release on personal' bonds' ory some nominal security. The Court has also stated its intention that in certain "cases. each, to be determined on its merits, that if the plaintiff desires the defendant to be detained, "when the latter is unable to find the security to meet the amount in question, the plaintiff is to contribute to the cost of his detention at the rate of fifty cents per diem.
Security Procedure.—The new rules governing security in Civil actions were instituted in November of last year and have in the main been working successfully. The most noticeable improvement is the falling off in the number of applications for Summonses for Immediate Security, which practically amounts to a warrant. Before this new procedure was adopted these applications were innumerable and made on the most trivial grounds, but now that the plaintiff is generally called upon to furnish—security himself (in case the defendant is damaged by the issue of this process) the number of these applications has been greatly reduced.
Public Health Report for May, The health of the community was satisfactory during the month, the death rates among both Foreigners and Chinese being normal. deaths among Foreigners, 61 per cent. were among Asiatics other than Chinese. There was only one death from smallpox among Foreigners—a British subject, aged 32, who had never been vaccinated. There were three deaths from typhoid among the Japanese: these are the first which have occurred among the Foreign Resident population since February. Smallpox was still present but was diminishing among the Chinese. There were four Foreign. cases notified, and the following particulars discovered concerning vaccination:—1 Indian child—unvaccinated, 1 Japanese youth—not re-vaccinated, 1 Portuguese boy—not re-vaccinated, 1 British lady—not re-vaccinated. Because of the persistence of smallpox, free vaccination was continued throughout the month in the Branch Health Offices.
The disease has not disappeared as it usually does, with the onset of the hot weather. Smallpox and plague were prevalent in Hongkong, the latter in epidemic proportions at the end of May. Freedom from plague is of the utmost importance to Shanghai from commercial, as well as from a humanitarian point of view. If plague onee- got a foothold in Shanghai, it would probably lead to serious loss of life, ti: dislocation of trade, and the cost of stamping it out would be millions of taels.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.