Britons, Chinese are Detained for Five Hours When Collecting Taxes Chief Revenue Inspector F. J. Forrest, Assistant Inspector A. J. Griffith, and a Chinese clerk, all employees of the Revenue Office, Shanghai Municipal Council, were detained at a "Ta Tao" police station off Edinburgh Road for five hours on Tuesday afternoon after they had called at House 15, Lane 95 Edinburgh Road, shortly after 2 pin, to make enquiries regarding the retention by the occupants of the place, of a receipt, which was taken from a Revenue Office employee earlier the same day, without the money having been paid.
Following lengthy conversations between S, M. P. officials and Mr. Kitaoka, Japanese adviser to the "Ta Tao" government, three men were released at 7.15 p.m. the same da; The whole incident started in the torning. hours, when the tenant of House 15 was asked to pay the quarterly rates due. He asked to be shown the receipt under the pretext that he must first take it to his employer. The receipt was handed ever, and subsequently given to a "Ta Tao" official in plain-clothes who had evidently given instructions to the tenants of the house in question to inform him when demands for the payment of rates would be made, Upon being informed of the occurrence, Mr. Forrest accompanied by Mr. Griffith and the same shroff, called on the occupant of the house in the afternoon, with the request for payment of the rates. The man at the door asked them to enter and to wait for a few minutes, "Ta Tao" Official Arrives Shortly afterwards, the plain-clothes "Ta Tao" official arrived at the house accompanied by a number of armed policemen of the Japanese-occupied territory and asked the party to accompany him to the police station, which they did.
A discussion regarding the rights of the Shanghai Municipal Council to collect rates in "Ta Tao" territory ensued and about one hour later, when the Council employees wished to leave, they were informed that they were not free to do so. Mr. Forrest was permitted, however, to order the car which had conveyed his party to the address and which was parked on Edinburgh Road, to return to the office and first information of the affair was received by Revenue Office officials shortly after 4pm. A police party from Bubbling Well Police Station was immediately formed and first called on the Japanese Gendarmerie headquarters on Jessfeld Road from where they were referred to the "Ta Tao" police station where the two Britons and the Chinese were being detained.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.