Cooks and coolies of the Park Hotel, Bubbling Well Road, started no little trouble on Wednesday morning when they threatened to set fire to the hotel building and, when Mr. Edward R. Dallas, Assistant Warder of the S.M.C. Gaol, and one of his fellow officers responded to a call for help from the 4th floor of the hotel, Mr. Dallas was' set upon by the cooks who beat and kicked him about the body and head with their fists and feet.
A party of police officers soon rived and placed under arrest 27 cooks and 9 coolies of the hotel. Thirty-six of these were charged in the First Special District Cage yes-th disturbing the peace and g the hotel property while 14 of them were accused of assaulting Mr. Dallas, - The court found 27 of them guilty of the assault charge and passed suspended sentences on them. The others were acquitted.
According to the statements made in the court by Mr. Y. D. Wong, Assistant Municipal Advocate, the management of the Park Hotel recently.decided to reduce the hotel's kitchen staff owing to business depression caused by the hostilities, but this was opposed by the cooks, At 10 am. on Wednesday, the cooks asked one Mr. Nissen to see the management on the 4th floor about the matter. Some of the cooks followed Mr. Nissen to the 4th floor where they met a foreigner and mistook him for a director of the hotel.
As the cooks, threatened to make trouble, some @ne on the 4th floor raised an alarm through a window just opposite to the Foreign Y.M.C.A. Building.
Mr, Dallas and one of his fellow officers were walking along Bubbling Well Road and, when they heard the alarm, they entered the hotel und went up to the 4th floor where they met the 36 accused. While his comrade went downstairs to telephone the police, Mr. Dallas remained on the 4th floor and told the cooks to keep quiet. One of the accused then brought a tin of alcohol from the kitchen and poured half of the alcohol on the floor, threatening to set fire to the building.
As he feared that it might be gasoline, Mr. Dallas tried to stop the accused, whereupon he was set upon by the cooks and his uniform was torn. His comrade having returned, they entered a room on the 4th floor. The police party soon arrived and took the accused into custody after the latter had locked themselves in the kitchen for some time.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.