ovember 25, 1898.
cases constitute a comparatively proportion of the total, and in the of cases, those in which death has re- ulted from accident or misadventure, it is ently desirable that by a public inquiry ition should be directed to possibly pected dangers to life and the means of removing them, and also that any possible suspicion that might attach to particular indi
individuals should be removed. The publicity of inquests is, in fact, a great public safeguard. Coroners endowed with common sense also recognise the advantage of having the assistance of counsel in their and if counsel are to be allowed. to take any part in the proceedings it is clearly desirable that they should be allowed to put their questions to the witnesses direct instead of addressing them to the Coroner and the Coroner addressing them to the witnesses, thus causing loss of time and not unfrequently confusion of meaning.
inquiries
WATER METERS AT THE PEAK,
:
The testimony of all the towns in Europe and America that have adopted the meter system in connection with the water supply is to the effect that it has been most efficacious in checking waste. The system has been partially applied in Hongkong: but the only district in which it is in full operation, the supply to each house being gauged, is the Hill District, a district in which, having regard to the class of houses and the character of the inhabitants, one would expect to find the minimum of waste occurring. We believe enquiry would show that not a single householder in
that district has taken any steps whatever to economise water since the intro- duction of the meter system; they use what they require, and if the meter shows at the end of the quarter that they have used one or two dollars' worth in excess of the allowance they pay for it without giving a second thought to the money involved, but with a good deal of grumbling at the trouble of having to send the amount to the Trea- sury and having to procure special coins in which to pay it, for the Treasury refuses to accept the Chinese coins which form the general subsidiary currency of the colony and British coins are not to be had without difficulty. The amounts are usually too small to pay by cheque, as they seldom reach three dollars, and they generally in- clude odd cents. The total collection from the Hill District for excess water consump tion is probably less than two hundred dollars a month, and as against this must be set the cost to the Government of clerical labour for keeping the accounts, the cost of keeping a man to go round and read the meters, and so on, the net result being a dead loss. The fact seems to be that the allowance made by the Govern- ment in respect of the water rate is just a fraction below the requirements of the re- sidents, and that it would be more profitable and more convenient all round to allow the small excess to be taken without making
any trouble about it.
THE YOKOHAMA POISONING CASE.
MRS. CAREW COMMITTED.
[SPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE “DAILY PRESS."]
SHANGHAI, 18th October. In the Carew case at Yokohama further dis closures have been made and Mrs. Carey has
been committed for trial without bail.
residents of Kobe have established consequence of the exorbitant prices the local washermen:
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
SUPREME COURT.
18th November.
CRIMINAL SESSIONS.
BEFORE HIS HONOUR DE, Carrington (CHIEF JUSTICE.)
THE PROTECTION OF, GIRLS.
Wong Yau and Wong Shing were charged on three counts with bringing a girl into the colony for the purposes of prostitution.
The prisoners pleaded not guilty and the following jurors were sworn Messrs. C. W. Richards, F. Eckhoff, A. F. de J. Soares, J. A.Levy, L. Roze, F. Hubbe, F. WHeuermann. Hon. H. E. Pollock (Acting Attorney-Gene- ral), instructed by Mr. Johnson (Crown Soli. citor), prosecuted.
After the adjournment Mr. G. T. Rivers, who was absent when his name was called as a juror in the morning, attended before his Lordship and apologised for being late. He was very busy in the morning and the Sessions had slipped his memory. Directly he found out his mistake he came to the Court and arrived there at 10.15. He would be happy to serve as a juror on a future occasion.
His Lordship told Mr. Rivers to take care to be punctual another time and allowed him to go. guilty by a majority of four to three. His Lord- The jury at first returned with a verdict of ship told the jury that he could not accept that verdict and directed them to retire once more. In a few minutes they returned with a verdict of guilty by five to two.
and by Ho Mow Wo escribe Chik Fuk described
I Shek, and produced a man
who declared that he was present at Ho Shek's death. Probate was granted
Ho Chik
Fuk in the usual way, but the only use he pears to have made of it was to register it with the China Fire Insurance Company, Limite in which Company the deceased held shares, and to draw the dividends on such shares Li Fung Chi was thought to have left Hongkong in Jan- uary, 1896, just after the plaintiff had applied him for accounts of the Sin Loong
The de- ceased's family had only just discovered the fraud, and now wished the will set aside and the estate administered by the Court. opbine of Ho T' Shek, proved that Ho 1 Shek left no sous surviving him and never had a son named Ho Chik Fuk nor a nephew named Ho the alleged will and was quite sure that Li Mow Wo. She was with him at the date of Fung Chi did not visit him at that date. She had never heard of the name Ho Chik Fük until very recently. No such person as Ho Kwai was present at her husband's death. Ho I' Shek, corroborated.
Ho Fung Hang, the plaintiff, grandson of
Ho Wong Shi, the only surviving con-
The Court decreed that the probate should be will was null and void: the plantiff to have his called in and cancelled, and declared that the costs out of the estate.
20th November.
SUMMARY JURISDICTION.
PUISNE JUDGE.)
The first prisoner was sent to gaol for twelve BEFORE ME. T. SERCOMBE SMITH (ACTING months and the second for eight months with hard labour.
The Court then adjourned until this morning.
THE PIRACY AND MURDER NEAR GREEN
C
ISLAND.
The trial of the two men charged with piracy and murder near Green Island was fixed for Thursday, the 26th inst.
20th November.
FORCIBLE DETENTION OF A GIRL,
GUNDAR SINGH . JULIA PASCOAT. This was an action for $550 due on a promis sory note given by the defendant to the plaintiff coverture. The facts (admitted) were that the The defendant admitted the note, but pleaded
defendant's husband was alive and residing in Hongkong at the time the note was given, but had died shortly before the action was com- menced.
Mr. Wilkinson for the plaintiff relied on section 11 of Ordinance 14 of 1878, which Lai Su was charged on six counts with detain-provides that "No person shall be exempted ing a girl in the colony for the purposes of from being sued for any debt or damages not prostitution. Attorney-General), instructed by Mr. Johnson the husband shall not be resident in the Hon H. E. Pollock (Acting exceeding $1,000 by reason of coverture where (Crown Solicitor), prosecuted, and the prisoner, colony," and contended that the section applied who pleaded not guilty, was defended by Mr. to the circumstances existing at the time of Robinson (instructed by Mr. Mounsey).
when the contract was made, and that inasmuch action brought and not to the state of affairs
The jurors were-Messrs. A. Lee, L. Briu- doague, A. A. H. Botelho, W. Boffey, G. J. Sequeira, A. M. Marshall, and G. R. Stevens.
This is the case in which a girl was confined in a dark room of a brothel and made her escape one night when the door of her prison
was left unlocked.
The jury found the prisoner guilty on two counts and sentence was deferred until Tues. day, pending the decision on a point of law raised by Mr. Robinson.
17th November.
PROBATE JURISDICTION.
as the defendant's husband was dead at the time the action was commenced he could not be said
to be "resident in the colony" and therefore the defendant was precluded from raising the defence of coverture. Mr. Wilkinson further relied on the opinion expressed by the Full Court in the suit of Tang Kit Shang v. Ng Pat To that the Legislature in framing this section of the Ordinance intended in cases of trifling amount to prevent the raising of the defences of infancy and coverture at all, and submitted that if it were held in the present action that section 11 did not apply to cases where the hus- band was dead the effect would be that married women could not raise the defence of coverture to actions, brought on contracts made by them so long as their husbands were alive and absent from the colony, but the instant such husbands died they could raise such defence, or in other words so long as they remained married women they could not shelter themselves behind the fact, but when they ceased to be married women Hon. H. E. Pollock, Acting Attorney through their husbands death, they became en- General, instructed by Mr. Bowley (of Mr. titled to rely on their marriage an inconsistent H. L. Dennya's office), appeared for the plain-state of the law which could not possibly have tiff;
the defendant did not appear.
BEFORE HIS HONOUR DE. CARRINGTON (CHIEF JUSTICH.)
HO T' SHEK ALIAS HO OI CHY, DECEASED.—HO TUNG HÀNG 1. HỌ CHÍR FUK. probate of a will granted in 1886.
This suit was brought for the revocation of
Ho I' Shek, who was for many years manag- ing partner of the Siu Loong Hong, opium merchants, 59, Bonham Strand, died in 1880 intestate, having given verbal directions that his share in the Siu Loong should be divided between the families of his three sons, who had predeceased him. In 1886 some person calling himself Ho Chik Fuk produced a document purporting to be a will of Ho Shek, by which the whole estate was given to him as son of the deceased. This will was attested by La Fung Chi (then Manager of the Sin Loong)
been intended by the Legislature, r
Mr. Mounsey for the defence contended that by the common law of England a married woman was incapable of contracting" and that the section referred to related to the time of contracting and not to the time of action brought.
held
His Lordship in delivering judgmen that it made no difference wheth Hime of debt contracted. The plea was or was not residant in the
could not be sustained if the husba resident in the colony at the time of action
not