The attention of readers is drawn to the statement made in H.M. Police Court, yesterday morning in connection with the prosecution of British subjects for failing to register themselves at the Consulate-General Mr, R. S. Heaney, passport officer, informed the Court that during these present hostilities, there were several cases of Britons coming forward of whom the consular authorities had had no knowledge, and he insisted that not only the extreme importance, but the necessity and obligation of registering should be clearly recognized by British subjects. Poverty is no excuse. Fees can be remitted wholly or in part in cases of hardship or destitution, and it has been shown during the events of last year that it is imperative that the British consular authorities should at all times be aware of the number of persons within their jurisdiction to whom they may be called upon to extend protection, The efficiency with which everyone concerned dealt with the hurried evacuation of last August depended to a great extent upon the fact that so large a number of Britons are sufficiently law-abiding as to obey the regulation requiring annual registration with the consular authorities throughout China. It is an efficiency which Britons have every right to expect of their officials, but at the same time it must be remembered that these latter in their turn have equally the right to expect that loyal co-opera tion which is to be found in the comparatively small matter of obeying instructions. If registration has been somewhat lightly regarded by a few in the past, and yearly prosecutions show that that has been the case, it should be brought home to delinquents that H.M, Consul-General has the right to withdraw recognition or protection of non-registrants, in addition to their prosecution, In cordially endorsing the warning given by Mr. Heaney in this matter this journal also took the step of broadcasting the statement yesterday in the hope that his words may reach Britons throughout the whole of China and thus warn them of what may happen should they continue in neglect of their duty.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.