SCHOOL FOR CRIME.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20302, 9 July 1929, Page 9

SCHOOL FOR CRIME.

CHINESE FAGIN CONVICTED. EIGHT YEARS IN GAOL. [from our own correspondent.] SHANGHAI. Mny 27. Arraigned in (lie clock of the Provisional Court of Shanghai with six boys, between the ages of 12 and 15 years, whom he had taught to steal, a Chinese Fagin was last week sentenced to eight years' imprisonment by the presiding ■Judge and Senior Consul's Deputy. The accused, u Chinese called Dzung Ivwesung, has, according to the evidence, coached his pupils well in the crafty art of stealing. Dzung's school for crime was brought to light by Iho Settlement police, subsequent to the arrest, early one morning, of a small Chinese boy who was found hiding in a dark corner near a foreign houso in the Western District. From information supplied by this boy the other boys were also arrested and on the strength of their stories, which were practically identical, Dzung, the leader of tho gang of young lawbreakers, was arrested. Dzung also possessed a second-hand clothes shop and without doubt disposed of the proceeds of tho thefts through the medium of his shop His unfortunate pupils were all in a wretched condition. One was so young that when he appeared in the dock the Judge immediately ordered him to a reformatory. Another unfortunate was found to bo suffering from leprosy arid was sent by the Court to (ho lepers' home in Ilangcbow. The others appeared to have been simply the cat's paws of their master, who specialised in minor thefts such as children's bicycles, flower pots Outside houses and clothes drying on lines, and similar articles. Under cross-examination the boys told the •Judge that Dzung pointed out to them the likely places and told them what to take. They brought theii loot to their master and received pitiful rewards which enabled them to buy a little food. Under Dzung's guidance the boys' had apparently been successful in ((iifte a number of petty larcenies. According to the police records Dzung had already been in prison 13 times. Ife was advisod by the Judge to follow the precepts of Confucius and reflect on his conduct three times a day.