The Shanghsi Municipal Counc thas issued a report covering the fire which occurred on June 28 in the Great China Celluloid Factory. The publication of the report has been delayed pending the judgment in the private criminal action brought by the Felatives of the victims against the factory management. Judgment was delivered on Tuesday last. The report draws attention to the fact that too large an amount of celluloid scrap was stored in a store-Foam from which "ventilation was excluded by the habit of the management of keeping the windows closed. The building itself was unauthorized jand thus provision for proper ventilation which would automatically be required by the Public Works Department for buildings to be used" for storage of hazardous goods was not included. In August 1094 a fire destroyed a building on the premises in which waste serap was accustomed to be reworked. 'The factory, at the request of officials, undertook to sell scrap thereinafter, but did not sell sufficiently quickly, and too large an amount apparently' accumulated, De-Jcomposition with subsequent rapid Jeombustion resulted. 26 persons lost their lives in a particularly tragic way, many were injured, and for many others breadwinners were lost. 'The factory management seems Ihave ce-operated very well with the Jauthorities in other particulars, for example in replacing bad electrical Installation by suitable types in. work. room buildings, and in' other im: portant ways, Under Bye-law XXXV the Council has authority to regulate dangerous and haz trades, and the clear lesson to be drawn is that, depression or no depression, this work must be carried on by the authorities as effectively as possible, so that potentially dangerous processes are [Subject to control. If, in case of [small undertakings, expense is pleaded fas excuse for continuance of poor practice, authorities must take "the: Stand that a greater social good is achieved by contributing to the successful operation of factories taking recognized precautions than in per-fruitting many ill equipped places to Jeffer unequal competition. The Court /has upheld the efforts of the Coun-el, and the case should act as a warning to laggard undertakings who may delay in carrying out requirements.
New ground is broken by the histoical film which is being shown {or the first "time at the Cathay Theatre. It is concerned with the revolution of the Young. Turks who deposed Abdul Hamid It in 1909 and put "Mahomed Vin his place on the throne. Incidentally the {heme has intense topical interest for it develops discussion of the ethics of dictatorship. Abdul Hamid LI provided the example of the able statesman and diplomatist, armed with autocratic powers, but unable to prevent them from degenerating into {yrannical Instruments of repression, fortified by espionage which crested mosphere of helpless. suspicion, bdul the Damned" is derived from the poem of the late Sir William min, on the occasion of whose! death "The Times" the other aay recalled the circumstances of its coinage. Watson wrote a series of sonnets under the fille "The Purple East" in order to. voice popular indignation against the Turkish massacres in Armenia. In his customary fierce style, when" hie political feelings were outraged, the oct addressed the Sultan as "Abdul the Damned." 'This gave rise to 9 famous "Punch" cartoon in" which the monarch was made to exclaim fon being confronted with the poet's jibe "Well I'm, d—d." 'The Young 'Turks displayed' considerable chivalry in handling the revolution and to the fallen monarch they accorded full honours. He "was sent into dignified captivity in Salonica where he died in' 1918.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.