There had been considerable discussion between the Chineseofficials and the Council in regard to the conduct of affairs at theMixed Court. The former had protested against the introduction ofMunicipal police into the Court Room. On April 15th， 1905， theMixed Court Magistrate wrote to the Senior Consul as follows： “I wassurprised to learn that the Sikh constable was sent here by the WestHongkew Police Station. As I have sole charge of the Court from thefront door inwards， the Police have no right whatever to interferetherewith， and I should be entitled to expel the Indian at once， withoutwriting to address H. B. M."s Consul-General， with a request that heshould forward a protest to the Police in the matter.“The Chinese contention that the precincts of the Court wereexcluded under the Land Regulations from Municipal control wasdebatable， for from the account we have given of the founding of theCourt it will be seen that it was never intended to be a purely ChineseYamen， and that in the beginning it was situated on the premises ofthe British Consulate. Its object was to bring about joint action ofChinese and foreigner in judicial proceedings. The reason given for theintroduction of Municipal police into the Court Room was to guardagainst the miscarriage of justice and to see that the penalties awardedwere duly executed. When the Mixed Court Magistrate objected tothe presence of police in the Court， as a compromise， in place of aSikh policeman a European member of the Municipal police force wasappointed to attend at the Court.
Another bone of contention had been the custody of femaleprisoners. According to Article I of the Rules of the Mixed Court atShanghai， a Chinese committing an offence in the Settlement was to betried and detained in custody by the Magistrate of the Mixed Court. Asa matter of fact， however， the male prisoners in all Chinese cases in theMixed Court had generally been sent to the Municipal Gaol since itsestablishment， and on the average， 450 convicts per day were detainedthere. Female prisoners had not at first been taken to the MunicipalGaol owing to the lack of accommodation for women， but at the timeof which we are writing this deficiency had been supplied.
The opinion had been expressed by the Council that the cells ofthe Mixed Court Gaol were not yet in a fit condition for the receptionof women， and the Taotai had been asked to allow female prisoners tobe taken to the Municipal Gaol. To this the Taotai strongly objected，the Chinese evidently having a strong prejudice against handing overfemale prisoners to the custody of foreigners.
The case was further complicated by the fact that the AmericanAssessor， Mr. Julean H. Arnold ， upheld the Chinese authorities andthe Mixed Court Magistrate in their contention that according to theRules of the Mixed Court， female prisoners should be remanded to theMixed Court Gaol.
On December 19th an interview was held between Mr. F.
Anderson， Chairman of the Municipal Council， Mr. Platt， a memberof the Watch committee， and the Taotai， in reference to the MixedCourt affair. It was agreed that in future female prisoners should besent to the Mixed Court Gaol， which the Magistrate declared to be ina fit state for their accommodation， and which would be periodicallyinspected by the Health Officer.
The Taotai brought up the question of Mr. Twyman"s removalfrom the office of Assessor， but Messrs. Anderson and Platt had noauthority to discuss this point. It was agreed that an inquiry should beheld in regard to the conduct of the police inspectors.
The matter was finally settled when the Viceroy of Nanking， ChouFu， came to Shanghai by Imperial order， and the Chinese gave theirconsent to the presence of the Municipal police in the Court， whilethe custody of female prisoners was left in the hands of the ChineseMagistrate.
Shanghai-Nanking Railway Opened to NanziangDuring this memorable year， before the riot in Shanghai， oneimportant event of an encouraging nature occurred. This was theopening of traffic on the Shanghai-Nanking Railway to Nanziang. Atrain conveying invited guests， foreign and Chinese， travelled on theline as far as this station， where a reception was given by the Chineseauthorities. Congratulatory addresses were made on this significantsign of progress.
The Shanghai-Nanking Railway line was built by capital furnishedby the British and Chinese Corporation. According to the agreementthe construction and operation of the line were to be in the hands offive commissioners—two Chinese， two English， and the Engineer-inchief（English）。 The line and its plant were to be security for the loansof ￡3，250，000 and ￡650，000.
The short line between Shanghai and Woosung， already inoperation， was purchased by the Corporation for the sum of Tls.
1，000，000 （￡125，000） and became a branch of the Shanghai-NankingRailway.
The whole line from Shanghai to Nanking was completed in1908， and since that time the control has been vested in the Chairmanof the Board of commissioners， a Chinese.
