FOUR CHINESE SUSPECTS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 19 August 1939, Page 6

FOUR CHINESE SUSPECTS

HABEAS CORPUS PROCEEDINGS FOREIGN OFFICE ACCEPTS SERVICE OF SUMMONS I British Official Wireless; RUGBY, 18th August. To-day at the Foreign Office on benalf of Lord Halifax a service of summons was accepted for a writ of habeas corpus for which Mr Justice Cassels gave leave yesterday following an ex party application in London on behalf of the four Chinese prisoners at TientThe procedure under this ancient British legal safeguard of the liberty of the subject is that on the return of the summons the merits of the application are argued and it is then decided whether or not a writ should be issued. The writ, if secured, directs that the person having custody of the prisoners bring them before a British court or release them. The application on behalf of the four Chinese was made on the instructions of Miss Margery Fry and Professor Norman Bantwich. a former AttorneyGeneral of the Government of Palestine. and Lord Listowel. president of the China Campaign Committee.

The refusal of the British Concession authorities at Tientsin to hand over the four Chinese suspects was the original ostensible cause of the blockade of the concession by the Japanese. Following the establishment of a prima facie case against the four Chinese Britain directed that the warrant of the Chinese District Court should be executed. The present habeas corpus proceedings originated from th_> announcement of that decision.