§ Mr. GINNELLasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he was now in a position to say whether the procedure was the same in China when a Chinese was accused of having killed a British subject and when a British subject was accused of having killed a Chinese; whether, in the case of John Mears, a British subject, accused of having killed Yu-Fa-Cheng last April, all inquiry was refused until July, then conceded under commercial pressure, but held in camera, and a regular trial before the British Court of Shanghai was still refused; and whether this was the procedure when a Chinese was accused of having killed a British subject?
§ The UNDER-SECRETARY for FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Mr. McKinnon Wood)China being a country in which His Majesty exercises extra-territorial rights, British defendants are tried in. British courts and Chinese defendants in Chinese courts. To this extent, therefore, the procedure is different. The hon. Member's sketch of the course of events in the case of Police Inspector Mears is not in accordance with facts.
§ Mr. GINNELLWill the hon. Gentleman tell us what the facts are?
§ Mr. McKINNON WOODThe facts are that Mears was accused of having contributed to the death of the Chinese, and an inquiry was made into the circumstances by the British Consul, who considered that there was no case to send for trial, the evidence of the doctor being that the man had not received any injuries.