Nagasaki, May 9, Mr, Yukichi Hayashi, 70, former Chairman of the Japanese Ratepayers' Association in Shanghai, who was being tried on a charge of attempted murder as a result of a shooting incident at the Special Ratepayers' Meeting in Shanghai January 23, was sentenced this morning to {wo years imprisonment with hard labour, with final execution*of the term being suspended for five years, It will be recalled that Mr. Hayashi shot and wounded Mr, W. J. Keswick, Chairman of the Shanghai Municipal Council, Mr, Issaku Okamoto, Japanese member of the Municipal Council, and Mr. Kazuo Ikeda, assistant in the Council's Secretariat, The incident arose as a result of a heated debate over a 40 per cent. increase in municipal rates to meet the deficit in the Council's budget,—Domei,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.