THE KNIFE.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume 1, Issue 3, 9 February 1914, Page 8

THE KNIFE.

USED IN MADRAS STREET SOUTH CHINAMAN STABBED IN HEAD. For the most part Chinamen who have made Christchurch their home for a time have lived so quietly that the European population is practically ignorant of their existence. He is ignorant that here. as. in other cities, they very quietly get a part to themselves, and that gradually th" white men are squeezed out. This is happening heTe in Lower Madras Street, between High Street and Moorhouse Avenue. There live the Chinese washermen and shopkeepers, and to that quarter the Chinamen flock on Sundays. Most of their houses are old places, not overelean, and often almost bare of furniture. A reporter who has been through the quarter came away with few impressions save that some Christian organisation had been very busy with the distribution of calendars designed for our not always welcome guests.

The element of trouble ' comes with the gambling element (said to be vigorously suppressed m Christchurch, . and practically non-existent), and the woes that seem sure to follow when a- white woman goes to live amongst them. THE ASSAULT. It was the white woman who lay at the bottom of Sunday, night's row, when Gee Poy was stabbed in the temple. About 7.30 last, night passers-by heard sounds of trouble in the old wooden - shop at the corner of Southwark Street. People stayed to await developments, and presently- a blood-: stained Chinaman rushed out, followed by others. Then a young man flamed Baufield .cycled off to tell the police. He found Sergeant Swan and Constable Ryan at the Clock Tower. What appeared to be the living-room : showed signs of a great struggle andthat much blood had been spilt. In the house were several Chinaman and a woman, whose name the police believe tq be Miller. Gee Poy, the shopkeeper, sat in a chair, bleedirig freely from a deep wound in the left temple. Other Chinaman had entered at the same time as the police, but their presence did not gain much extra information for the police. The tale, as-it could be gathered, was that the white woman, who is middle-aged, lived with Gee "Poy. A number of Chinamen were his guests, and all were - playing draughts when there entered the vil-lain,-whose name the police heard later was Mong Yow. Talk passed between Mong Yow and the white woman, and Gee Poy and the white woman, and to it. The fight started, and they went to the floor together. They struggled there until the visitor used* his knife. Gee Poy, blinded partially by running blood, loosed his grip and'his assailant escaped, apparently without hindrance from the witnesses. They appeared to have failed, to appreciate the gravity of the situation, and had sent neither for doctor nor police. Sergeant Swan had a difficult task to gain information, as only the white woman and Gee Poy.seemed willing to talk. The name of the assailant was a matter of doubt. Dr Nedwill, who came quickly, ordered Gee Poy's removal to the hospital, where Dr Scott found that the wound was a deep one, partly penetrating the bone, and that a good deal of blood had been lost. Detectives Eade and O'Connor, with Sergeant Jackson, went off by .motor ■ to the market garden in Heathcote, by the mouth of the tunnel, where the suspected man works. They made a thorough search, but were much hampered by the darkness and the fact that the other Chinamen present seemed to have lost their English and to rely mostly on "no savee.'*' Enquiries at the hospital this morning elicited the information that the was making good progress and was in no immediate danger. Detectives O'Connor and Eade were out until 2 o'clock this .morning; and were off again shortly after 9 o'clock. They believed that, aided by the daylight, they would be able to make a much more thorough search.