Oct, 28.
Infringements of the many restrictions on prices and of rationing have been dealt with By courts in Britain with considerable severity. And this in spite of the complaint of solicitor at Southend recently that "It would Require the wisdom of all the Chief Justices for the past generation, plus the Brain Trust, Solomon and Euclid to understand th mass of regulations relating to the sale of feng nowadays." Waste has become ter for the magistrate, A widow in Cambridge who had ordered extra. bread, expect~ ing some people in to tea, was fined five pounds or approximately $365 Chinese na~ Yonai currency for throwing it away when her, visitors did not arrive. Two bakers of Eastbourne were each fined forty shillings for abandoning twelve loaves and 247 small teakes in their bakery after it had been bom bed and they had been forced to move else~ where. In. a prosecution at the Mansion House a man who had not disclosed his po: session of £22,344 in United States securities was fined £10,000, inspire of the plea by his counsel that he genuinely suffered from a fear of destitution which amounted almost an obsession. At Croydon a stall-keeper and his assistant were fined £24 for selling ress cloth without requiring coupons, The Variety of the prosecutions and the deterrent value of the penalties imposed make it clear that the British Government is resolved that the public shall not be exploited either direct~ ly'or indirectly. But the public is stil! com= plaining of exploitation, Control is said to rive goods out of the shops and into "black markets." 'To be caught operating in one of these markets may mean a prison term, but stil it if done—an unhappy tribute to' the power that gain can have over men's better Instinets.
Of more immediate interest to Shanghai, however, Is the manner in which the direct exploitation of the public is being dealt with, In' this city'there is naturally considerable speculation over the way the Council will tackle profiteers when its hands have been strengthened by the necessary authority from {the Consular Body. Here direct exploitation fof the public has been carried to extremes Which are probably without a parallel any Where else in the world. Chinese law provides penalties for such exploitation which vary between death and small fines. There one case on record where the former mayor of a city was executed by order of Chungking for hoarding rice, but cases in Shanghat have been dealt with by means of small fines or short prison terms which have been commuted into fines which have proved no deterrent whatever to repetition the offences. A recent case in the Dis {ict Court can be cited as an example. A confectioner with a store on Avenue Edward Vit was fed $200 for defrauding the public with false weights. For a deliberate swindle buch as. this ho was fined what must have! been a microscopic traction of the illegal pro-{ts he had made! Ts not the public justified when it complains that it is not being proper-Reebiy as this? When it i considered that protected, when the law is enforced as really drastic penalties in Britain have had {to be enforced in order to attempt to control exploitation, the effect of a $200 fine on a convicted swindler can be judged.
Comparisons in the circumstances escape reengrocer and his assistant were fined £22
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.