CO129-373 - Public Offices - 1910 — Page 539

2

stabbing a woman to death, was transferred to the native city so that he might receive greater punishment, whence he escaped.

The case was fully reported in the local newspaper, and, in amplification of the published account, I have the honour to enclose a copy of the police report on the case.

The council take the opportunity to express the view that the time has arrived for further effort in the direction of restoring to the mixed court its former powers of punishment in all cases except such as call for death penalty or banishment. The growing interests of the settlement, both in respect of its population and its foreign commerce, is such as to warrant the view that the mixed court, the sole tribunal for commercial suits against natives and for police and criminal cases, is second in importance to no court of justice in China.

I need allude at no great length to the disabilities under which the court at present labours; to its obsolete and quite unworkable code of regulations; to its insignificant official status as a branch or junior court under the native city magistrate; to the indefensible limitation of its power to inflict blows, while every petty yamên in the vicinity of the settlement still retains this necessary means of handling the Chinese criminal classes. These are but the broadest indications of what is necessary to set the mixed court of Shanghai upon an adequate basis.

The council's object in addressing the consular body in the matter is that representations may be made in Peking, couched in terms of firm remonstrance; giving the necessary serious warning that the present attitude of the native authorities in respect to the court is leading to a grave situation; pointing out that no more suitable time than the present will arise for pressing the matter to a satisfactory issue.

I have, &c.

D. LANDALE, Chairman,

Shanghai Municipal Council,

Enclosure 2 in No. 1.

3

Enclosure 3 in No. 1.

Consul General Sir P. Warren to Mr. Max Müller.

(No. 62.) Sir,

Shanghai, August 9, 1910. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch No. 32 of the 27th ultimo with reference to the transfer of criminals from the Shanghai Mixed Court to the magistrate's court in the city.

The present situation is correctly described in the letter of the municipal council to the senior consul of the 4th April, and the sole remedy would seem to be to increase the powers of the mixed court by allowing the court to deal with all cases not involving the death penalty. Such an increase of the powers of the court would be vigorously opposed by the Chinese authorities, who are bent upon reducing the powers of the court to a minimum, and care nothing for the consequent increased difficulty in policing and controlling the criminal classes in the international settlement. As has been frequently pointed out, it would be a great advantage if the mixed court magistrate were of higher rank than at present and in consequence more independent; as matters now are he is completely under the thumb of the taotai.

The abolition of the use of the bamboo in the settlement, while it is still freely used in the city, has caused the flocking into the settlement of numbers of the rowdy class who, although dreading corporal punishment, care little or nothing for a few months' imprisonment in the municipal gaol. There is some difficulty, however, in asking for the restoration of the bamboo, though there seems to be good reason to believe that the Chinese authorities would be willing to consent to it if asked to do so.

I consider that the only possible way of improving the present position of affairs is by increasing the powers of the court as indicated above, and appointing independent magistrates of higher rank than the present incumbents. I fear, however, that it will be difficult to persuade the Chinese authorities to consent to either of those reforms.

I have, &c.

PELHAM L. WARREN.

Sir,

Mr. Landale to M. Siffert.

Council Room, Shanghai, July 5, 1910.

IN continuation of my letter of the 4th April, I have the honour to refer to the recent escape of thirty-nine criminals from the city penitentiary.

The council in the light of past experience realises that it may be difficult, though not impossible to guard against a sudden outbreak such as appears to have occurred on this occasion. The fact that the prisoners were able to obtain possession of fire-arms gives ground for some alarm, but it is satisfactory to note from reports submitted by the captain superintendent of police that numbers of the fugitives have been arrested before damage or violence was done.

I must not, however, omit to take notice of the occurrence as a further example of the unfortunate results following from the curtailment of the powers of punishment of the mixed court. There is a growing number of instances in which justice had been defeated by the present unsatisfactory practice of transferring offenders to the native city so that they may receive greater punishment than five years imprisonment. On this occasion two of the escaped prisoners were members of the gang concerned in the murder of Chinese constable No. 664 in January 1909, and it is reported that they have not yet been recaptured.

The council cannot refrain from bringing the matter formally to your notice requesting the consular body to communicate officially to the authorities at Peking the fact that thirty-nine hardened criminals of types such as this have contrived to overpower their guard in the city, and that at least ten of their number even now remain at large. I trust that what has occurred will be taken as a striking illustration of the urgency of still seeking remedy for the state of affairs to which attention has been drawn in my last letter on that subject and in the council's many representations during recent years.

I have, &c.

D. LANDALE, Chairman,

Shanghai Municipal Council.

538