SmI was very interested to read the Ritter on Hungjao signed by PrwALMED, because, having just acquired a curfew pass after interminable applications, I was told, the first time I tried to use it, that it was "cancelled."
'PENALISED emphasises two important points: firstly, Japanese soldiers are free to rob. the servants of foreign residents, and, indirectly, the residents themselves; secondly, the same soldiers are authorized to stop thesame residents from returning to their homes. It would be pointless for Japanese spokesmen to deny these robberies. All soldiers have i marked aptitude for supplementing their meagre store of worldly goods Since it has become a fashion to compare the present actions of the Japanese with deplorable practices adopted during the Great War, experienced observers might safely say that the only difference between the "scrounging" of private soldiers Europe twenty years ago and ti robberies committed by Japanese military now, is that the latter are more bare-faced. It would be equally pointless to deny that foreign residents are denied access to their homes after ten o'clock. It is but one of the many stupidities of the present situation that the curfew hour at one end of Hungjao Rodd is 12.30 am., while at the other end itis 10 pin. What is more, although Europeans and Americans immediate-get inoculated, without being ordered to do so, at the slightest sign of cholera, they are now informed that they. cannot enter the sparsely populated Hungjao district of Shanghai without showing a certificate. Agai Hungjao residents cannot move thei possessions to and from their own houses, or receive coal supplies, without a permit which can only be obtained from a gentleman whose office hours (so he told me) are from 8 to 330 am. Faced by these absurd restrictions, the unknown foreigner referred to in Penatisen's letter might "well be excused for losing his temper.
"The time has long since arrived when people of this city should voice their indignation at unprovoked obstruction from the Japanese militar: After all, we have been repeatedly told that the "China Incident" is being waged against Chiang Kai-shek's government, and neither against civi-lions, nor neutrals. We should, therefore, insist that the Japanese should not, under the plea of military neces sity, continue interfering with our legal rights and personal liberties.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.