THE CHINA MAIL, SEPTEMBER 19, 1941.
MUNITIONS FACTORY IN SICILY RAIDED
DEAL IN SLEEPERS FOR A.R.P.
(Con'Inued from Page 8)
sleepers”- -Yes
When" ↓ cannot remember.
Price Varied
And what was the price?-1! varied from $3.33 to $3.40
You never sold to Km Lee at $5 20
pr sleepers No We never sold to Kim Leg at one cent more than $3.40.
how many
And they bought you say About 6,000.
You sold 6,000 to Kon Lee and 7.000 to Marsinan's"-Yes.
To whom did you sell the others? The firewood dealers.
at
"THE HARBOURS and shipping Tripoli and Benghazi were attacked by R.A.F. heavy bombers and Fleet Air Arm air- craft during the night of September 16/17," says a Middle East K.A.F. communique issued in Cairo yesterday.
The results of the bombings, the com- munique continues, were obscured by low clouds but pilots over Benghazi saw a tanker alongside the Juliana Mole which had been hit previously, still blazing.
At Tripoli a large number of Marsman' chose them out of the bombs fell in the target area.
Dumps of stores at Bardia 80,000.
They were better than the were raided and large fires re- sleepers
you sold to Tai Lee sulted from the bombing.
I think the quality Chan?
Tai Lee Chan was chosen by just as good.
You say you diselerd Your
firm when?-At the end of March,
1941.
How is it, then, that in August, 1941. you purchased 8,000 sleep. ers from K C. Leung" -I say this has nothing to do with me at all.
Did you sell to other timber
But it is the Ta: Lee Brm?-- merchants? -- [ cannot say, per- haps we sold on the cash on de-Our Tai Lee Lumber Co. closed
down entirely in March. livery basis,
Then this Tai Lee firm has no- thing to do with you at all?--No. "Net Profit"
Do you know Tai Lee Chan?-.) Yes.
Of course you do. How inuchi did they buy from you"--I cannot remember the quantity, but sold at $1.40 per cub. ft.
We
You had 80.000 sleepers. had
You!
Munitions fac'orjes at Ligata, Sicily, were raided Im daylight
on Wednesday by R.A.F. bombers. Two sheds in the north factory were hit, one exploding and the other col- lapsing.
in the centre Large buildings
south factory were de- of the molished and one big shed was repeatedly hit. Clouds of smoke were visible many miles from the target.
bombers Abyssinia, R.A.F. attacked enemy
positions north- east of Azuzo, some bombs burst- Ing among trenches and build- ings.
a minimum prott of $1 on of
114
From all these operations none
aircraft our
is n'ssing.
I want to know the price per each sleeper?--I can say we never Reuter. sleeper. About $3.50
made a profit of $1 on each sleep- And would I be correct to say, tr. I tell you honestly that on! you sold them about 10,000, this lot of 80.000 our net profit
Yes.
Was
And
that in December} 1940?--Yes.
Would you be surprised to hear that this same firm sold to Mars- man's in July 1941 at $6.15 per sleeper?--I know nothing about that.
You are not surprised to hear that? Yes, I am surprised.
1. due it
Leakes a very pertinent suggestion was only $4.000.
But on
I suggest that you the transaction with to you now.
over profit of Marsman's for 2,000 sleepers you ƒnas -
$50,000 on this sleepers deal and made $2,000?—Yea,
the reason you closed the busi- ness was to escape the provisions of the War Taxation Ordinance? No, there is absolutely no truth in that.
And in the Marsman deal for $5,000 you made $7.2507-Yes,
And on the 6,000 you sold Kin Lee you made $8,700?--Yes-
On the three transactions above you made $18,000?—Yes.
Your co-partner in the firm, in Am correct in saying that in And that only represents evidence just now, said he only November and December 1940, 13,000 of the 80.000 sleepers? got $300 out of the $2,000 he had you had 80,000 sleepers in stock Yes. Fifty per cent of the sleep-¡ invested. Yes. and you were prepared to sellers were 'rot'en.
How much did you get?-$700. the whole stock at prices not Alright, then. Let us say that; And you seriousiv suggest to exceeding $3.40?-Last year we 50 per cent. was bad. We never the Commission that you on y sold to Kin Lee at a price not made one dollar on each s'ecper. Tenda son over the sleeper busi-. exceeding $3.40. but We might have sold to others. say Chik Hing. at a price higher than that
Good Market
there
was ย
Why? Because very good market at that time.
My question is very simple #900. You bought 80,000 sleepers at $1.90 in November lf 1. or anybody, had gone to you
Yes, even at $2.90.-Yes. less than that, rather than
in
November und offered you $3.40. would you have sold?-Certainly. I would have sold at less than that.
even
let
them rot.
Is Chik. Hing the same as Ta Lee Chau?-I don't know,
And the Kwong Hip Shing?
No.
Now, Chik Hing. Tal Lee Chan and Kwong Hio Shing are
all
ness? Yes.
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