COMEDY AT SHANGHAI

Evening Star, Issue 20256, 17 August 1929, Page 23

COMEDY AT SHANGHAI

RAID OH ROULETTE HOUSE ODD TANGLE OF LAWS. Tiro 'hundred foreign residents or Shanghai, including some of this city’s prominent business men were lately threatened with prosecution in consular courts as a result of a night police raid on The Wheel, a roulette gambling establishment in the international settlement. All attempts by the Shanghai Municipal Council to close The Wheel have failed because of the peculiar legal status of the proprietors, who claim Mexican citizenship. As all foreign nationalities enjoying extra-territorial privileges in Shanghai are subject to the laws of their respective countries, the Municipal Council cannot institute legal proceedings in this case except through tho Mexican Consulate. Gambling, under tho Mexican law, is only a minor offence, punishable by a fine. Since the council could not take action against the proprietors, it was decided to start legal proceedings against the players. On a Saturday night, about 1 o’clock, the usual crowd was grouped around the roulette tables when the word was passed around that the police had surrounded the place. The Chinese croupiers disappeared. There was a wild scramble to cash in chips and .a rush for the door. The police had barricaded the exit with a rope cordon. As men and women, many in evening clothes, left the door they found that their only egress was through a .narrow _passageway flanked on both sides by police. Everyone who passed out of the building was asked to give his name and address. • The next day the Municipal Council announced that those whose names were taken would be questioned before their respective consular courts. Some maintain that, since the nolice officials acted without warrant, that those subjected to questioning have a legal case against the council. Othefs contend that the city acted within its legal rights. The outcome of the case is being watched with keenest interest, for The Wheel for many months has been patronised by large numbers of Shanghai’s most fashionable and wealthy foreign residents. Tho management operates about a dozen, roulette tables, furnishes free food, drinks, and smokes, and free motor-car service.