Probably for the first time in the history of the Shanghai Municipal Police, detectives from Chengtu Road station were yesterday ordered to make a search in the city's pawnshops for a set of bagpipes which were reported missing since May 13 from the lawn in front of the Race Club. Enquiries made into the disappearance of the pipes by officers of the Seaforth Highlanders have failed to locate the precious instrument so that the police were requested to cooperate.
It appears that the officers of the Regiment were entertaining some guests at their Race Club Mess on the evening of May 13 and for the occasion had ordered one of the regimental pipers to entertain at intervals. The piper agreed and made use of the ' lapses between each tune, to run over to one of the beer-halls on Bubbling Well in order to quench his thirst. On two of these escapades, he took the pipes along and when the occasion presented itself for the third time on the evening, to dash over for a "quick one," he decided to leave them on the lawn in front of the Race Club building evidently under the belief that no-one would think of picking up the instrument with a view to pawning it, When he returned however, he found the set of pipes gone and reluctantly he confessed to his officers. An enquiry was instituted but the pipes failed to located so that the ce-operation of the police was finally sought yesterday By a late hour last night, the search in the pawn-shops had not revealed the pipes. Meanwhile rumour has it that the piper suspects an Englishman of having stolen them.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.