Whether crime has its roots in poverty, bad government, or a failing morality will always be debated. In Shanghai it is undoubtedly increasing, the professional gangster and the petty thief finding it easier to ply their trade as time goes on. Years ago it was possible to deliver the daily thousands of the "North-China Daily News" io its subscribers in the city and the outskirts with rarely a missing copy. To-day it becomes increasingly difficult. Hardly a day passes without a messenger's bicycle or odd copies of the paper being stolen by petty thieves. Last week a messenger was held up while cycling along Great Western Road by a gang of hooligans who attempted to wrest his bicycle and papers from him; a fight ensued and as it went on another cyclist passed who was also stopped by the same gang. In the confusion and darkness the "North-China" messenger managed to make his escape with his machine. and most of the newspapers. A day or two later another messenger left his bicycle in the road while delivering papers in an apartment house, returning to find it gone, the chain which secured it to a hydrant having been cut. Yesterday, a Jetter-box thief with a loop of wire was caught retrieving newspapers which had been placed in letter-boxes or under doors. If, therefore, some morning your newspaper should be missing, it is more than probable that some ingenious peculator filched it from the kitchen door or the front verandah before the boy went on duty. Subscribers' papers, by the way, are distinguished by a large star printed near the heading on the outside page Papers for sale in the streets have no star. If therefore a starred copy of the paper is offered for sale in the streets or at a bookstore, a message or telephone call to the "North-China Daily News" circulation department would be appreciated as such papers must have been stolen. Newspapers are no longer delivered, as was once the case, to upper floors of houses or flats, so suitable arrangements should be made for their reception at the front or back ground-floor entrances. Messages to the Circulation Department regarding non-delivery always receive immediate attention and should be sent with as little delay as possible.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.