§ 22 and 25. Mr. TREVELYANasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (1) whether he can now make any statement as to the arrest of certain members of the Kuomintang in the British Concession at Tientsin on 23rd November, 2543 and their delivery into the hands of the Fengtien military authorities, against which the Canton Government have protested; whether the arrested persons have been delivered to the military and not to the civil authorities; and whether His Majesty's Government has any information as to what is happening to them;
(2) whether any further arrests have taken place of members of the Kuomintang in Tientsin; and what has been done with persons arrested?
Mr. LOCKER-LAMPSONI will answer these questions together. On the 23rd November the police of the British municipal area at Tientsin, acting on information given by the Chinese city police, to the effect that certain premises in that area were the headquarters of a treasonable and anarchist secret society which was a menace to the peace of the community, raided the house in question, arrested 14 persons found therein, and seized inflammatory literature affording prima facie evidence that the house was used for propaganda inciting to viofence against foreigners and against all constituted government. At the time of the raid the British municipal police had no knowledge that the premises were the headquarters of the Kuomintang party, nor did any of the arrested persons claim to belong to the Kuomintang or to he political refugees.
After effecting the arrest, the municipal police then reported the matter to His Majesty's Consulate-General, who directed that the accused should be held in custody by the municipal police while he referred for instructions to His Majesty's Minister at Peking. His Majesty's Minister directed the Consul-General to follow the usual procedure and hand over the accused on production by the Chinese police of a warrant issued by the competent Chinese authority. On the issue and production of such a warrant the prisoners were handed over to the Chinese police on the 26th November. This action was in accordance with the settled policy of British authorities in China that Chinese, by the mere fact of residence in a British concession, should not be sheltered in any way from the jurisdiction of their own authorities.
In Tientsin there are many contiguous areas under different police jurisdiction 2544 and it has always been the practice of the police of the various municipal areas—both Chinese and foreign—to co-operate in every way possible to maintain law and order. The local Chinese authorities, to whichever faction they may have belonged, have constantly pointed out that if shelter is given to persons conspiring against them in the foreign concessions they cannot be responsible for maintaining law and order and for the protection of foreign life and property in Tientsin. In order to expedite action in urgent cases the British police are provided with blank search warrants issued by the Chinese city police. In this case the search was carried out by the municipal police at the request in person of the officer of the city police who ordinarily issues such warrants, and therefore it was not considered necessary to complete a warrant before making the raid.
The prisoners have not been delivered to the military authorities, but are still in the custody of the Chinese city police. I have no knowledge of any further arrests of members of the Kuomintang in Tientsin having taken place.