The Municipal Council are to be congratulated on the manner in which they are handling the very difficult question arising out of the existence in Shanghai of exceptional facilities for gambling, As the representa-the "North China Daily ws" was informed on Thurs: day, the Council do not propose to take immediate drastic action, in regard to the removal of ti temptation' which, as various episodes of the last few months have shown, and as the police reports have clearly indicated, are much responsible for violent crime in. the Settlement. Ty Degin with the Council themselves have afforded protection to certain of the institutions which come under consideration in this regard. Moreover, before action is taken in the direction of imposing restrictions which must inevitably appear to inter-fore in some degree with p sonal liberty and with harmless recreation, it is abundantly necessary that the governing ati thorities in Shanghai should have behind them public opinion in its most emphatic form, Vested interests have necessarily grown up and developed on lines recognized by the Council and hitherto treated as legitimate and, more or less, respectable. Sudden action, calculated to ex-
Pose those interests to loss which, by timely notice and measured consideration, could be in some degree minimized, would be inexpedient and unfair, The Council, in the cireumstances, have wisely proceeded something very like the method. Mr. Fessenden, ing on the' official literature of his own great country, discovers what he regards as an apposite exposition of the relations between crime and gambling. He shares the discovery with Major Gerrard, taking at the time the precaution to cate that the dictum quoted emanates from "one of the most (of New York) ever had.' Major Gerrard rejoins, after careful deliberation of a fortnight, with a most. telling confirmation of his brother police-officer's view. Im dealing with the criminal propensities of Shanghai the Commissioner of Police brushes aside sophistries and proceeds directly to the point that where commercialized gambling and the consequent creation of an "easy money revenue" are to be found, there will gather together the habitual criminal. and the—potential criminal, because of the attrac tions thus held out to them. Most significant of all is the Commissioner's further contention that gambling and other evils "not only attract and hold criminals to the place but put the hands of the principals enough money to maintain hordes of loafers in their pay and to defeat justice whenever one of their followers comes into the hands of the police." The Commissioner's remedy simple: "suppression by all means in our power of all forms of gambling, commercialized or otherwise." With this epistolary duet complete, the Council take the wise course of publishing the two letters without comment. Public opinion, in fact, is tacitly invoked.
There seem to be two points which Shanghai will have very seriously to consider. The cor-' respondence shows that thi Settlement has acquired an unenviable reputation for harbouring criminal activities. It cannot redound to the credit of Shanghai that the chief execu-ive officers of its administration have to admit the justice of that reputation in the terms 30 scathingly expressed in Major Gerrard's letter. Personal credit is of no little importance to Settlement which claims—and rightly claims—peculiar political consideration from world opinion. There is also the essentially practical view that, accepting the picture drawn by' the Commissioner of Police as substantially correct, Shanghai ratepayers have to' pay very heavily in additional expenditure on its police force and the machinery of criminal admi tration for the doubtful benefits of the freedom accorded to ce: mercialized gambling. This is no question of puritanical interference with a widespread human desire to woo the goodes of chance, although parenthetically it may be observed that Shanghai sees too much of the crassly pathetic ignorance which be-Mi es, against all evidence, that gambling is not merely an and the Merchant Service, but of the manner in which "that debt ca be liquidated.
It is customary, especially with nations which are proud of their sea traditions, to talk of the sea in the language of affection and enthusiastic delight' There is, no doubt, a lively appreciation of the bracing qualities which sea life can and, too, the conviction that, out Jon the ocean, there comes toman a finer, rarer mood of contempt lation which sets the seafaring traveller apart from his fellows. Yet it is as true to-day, as when the Greek poet of old wrote it down, that the sea can produce that "hated thunder" which strikes terror into the soul. And, to press the point home, it will be admitted that there is all the difference in the world between scudding along through the calm splendour of the velvety Jains Ocean and battling your 1 over the same track in the teeth of " heavy monsoon. When the sailor comes into harbour and upon him signs are seen of days spent in the open and of free access to the music of the winds, it is too often forgotten that the same man has also been frozen to the marrow in carry> ing out his duties on a storm-tossed deck with only a fra-gilo iron rail, or perhaps not even that, to protect him from the fury of "the temporarily transformed friend of his life. The equanimity with which the men of the" sea services face thes net, Amusement but a definite means these vicissitudes on the seas Of making. money, for nothing [demands indeed full tribute thet the from the community for whom they work. ized gambling isthe certain pro-|, Airmen may conquer tection of the promoters against ance, and oilway engineers practical Toss. The issue simply is one n¢{ smooth administration.
If/38e of the the, was for the pass land ut the sea is little susceptible Shanghai is prepared to main-to such Dlandishments.- Even tain a highly swollen police force and most elaborate judicial and the designer of the most luxury ious liner, which ever sped be-penal paraphernalia or if it tween Shanghai and Vancouver, accepts the view that the exceptionally marked prevalence cannot guarantee the passengers of violent crime is a normal or the ship herself against the feature of its existence, then the ferocity of the elements. Nor can he, by the exercise of super-Council will not be supported in any attempt to cope with the human foresight, enable the evils to which Mr. Fessenden|owners to dispense with the and Major Gerrard draw atten- [highest skill seamanship. tion. Shanghai has not, how-|!" discharging these sense of civic responsibil seamen are extraordinarily di ylinclined to plead their own acquiescence in a policy of laissez faire. The problem 1s not easy; it will require careful examination of all its imply tions, not the least complex being the conditions in areas adjacent to the Settlement and outside the Council's control.
On the main issue there would seem to be little room for hesitation; the only question is how and to what extent the:
Council can act on the advice 30 explicitly tendered by its experts,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.