centing Solicitor of the Shanghai il, appeared 4a the Shanghai Provisional Court November 21 for the first th ince his return from Jand, not ax prosse: tor bat as solicitor for the defence in a case in which one Herbert Ling was charged before Judge Chen and Mr. C. E, Whitamore, Senior Consul's Deputy, with permitting nonmembers to frequent a Chinese club, of which he was the alleged licensee, and for permitting gambling on the Premises with a roulette wheel.
Mr. Paul P. Y. Ru, Assistant Prosceuting. Solicitor, prosecuted, and Mr. Maitland and Mr. Chang Chow-woo defended.
Mr. Ru having outlined: the alleged: offences, Mr, Maitland said that he wished to draw -to the attention of the Court to the fact that the summons disclosed no nee. The accused was charged with a breach of tivo of his licence conditions. Now, there was no criminal offence in' the breach of Vicence condition, The Shanghai Municipal Council granted a licence under By-law 34, which says. "No person shall keep a tavern, ete. without a Ticence" and that condi-elves the Council " perfectly ood right to grant licence.
Bye-law, at the end, person offending a ing any of the By-laws shall be Viable to a fine, ete." One had to look back to see what the By-law provided, and they found that it only provided that these people should have licences. It was quite obvious that people knew that per? sons should have licences for these Kind of things. The By-law allow. ed the Council to withdraw a licence for an offence against its conditions and it was clear that it need not be a criminal offence. The Council could forfeit the security or wi draw the Heence, but the By aid not make a breach of a condition an offence. If it did there would not be the necessity for that clause, Mr. Ru said there was gambling ing on on the premises and that is a criminal offence besides. being a breach of the licence conditions.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.