Second Special District Court has been suspended for five years by the Chinese government at Chungking, being held responsible for an opium deal in which his relative, an official of the court, was sentenced some time ago to life imprisonment, The new president of the court, Judge Chen Mow-hsien, has taken up his duties.
Sheng Lai-wei, another official' of the court in charge of stolen articles placed in the custody of the court, also has been suspended for three years.
The case dates back to last year, but the news only leaked out yesterday when it was learned that the Central Officials Disciplinary Committee had acted. Judge Yang was even once detained by the High Court here and the Supreme Court once sent a procurator to Shanghai to investigate.
Trouble centred round an opium case last year when Ching Meng-lung, a relative of Judge Yang and an official of the court, was found to have taken out 16 pounds of opium confiscated by the court, for sale. He was travelling in a motor car going in a westerly direction but was stopped by the police and subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment. Two accomplices drew 10 years each.
The Kiangsu High Court, considering the serious nature of the case, immediately started investigations, bringing the matter to Chungking's attention.
There were few observances of American Labour Day in Shanghai yesterday, practically the only sign being the closure of the American Consulate-General to business. A few American business firms were also shut. Labour Day is. widely celebrated in America, coming as it does, on the first Monday in September, it provides a long week-end, and is therefore greatly appreciated by people wishing to get away to the country for a holiday.
Following agitation by the "Knights of Labour" in the eighties, for a holiday in honour of labourers. steps were taken to provide legiélation, which was finally passed by Congress in 1894, making the day a national holiday. All factories and industrial organizations remain closed in America, general festivities such as banquets, speeches and baseball games being the order of the day.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.