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The Attorney-General-That I do not know. The only solution I can suggest is that he has been put up to it by someone who had a grudge against the doctor-that he was a sort of hired assassin. Does your Lordship want the doctor? His Lordship-No. He says in the depositions that he does not know anything. (To the Inter- preter) Tell him to say anything he wishes to say; I mean in regard to the sentence, and tell him to say why he did this thing. He has pleaded guilty to it
The Prisoner-I do not wish to explain. I leave the matter in your Lordship's hands.
His Lordship-But I have to sentence him, and if he can show me some cause it might
make a difference in his sentence.
The Prisoner-I was asked by a certain man to whom I am under an obligation to dis- figure this man.
His Lordship So someone got him to do it. Who was the man?
The Prisoner-The man is not here. His name is one Aka. He left for Japan last month. His Lordship Did he pay him for doing it! The Prisoner-No, my Lord. I am under an obligation to him and did it because he asked His Lordship-Don't you know it is quite me. wrong to do these things ?
The Prisoner-I know, my Lord, it is very wrong; but I did it as a matter of duty.
The Attorney-General-It has been suggested that the man who got him to do this was a Buddhist priest.
The Prisoner-He is nota priest; he is at rader, His Lordship-Tell him this was a very wanton and wicked and unprovoked assault on a Japanese gentleman, and it makes the matter worse that he himself had no wrong to avenge against the Japanese gentleman, but was engaged by someone else to do it. The only thing that saves him from a very long sentence is that he seems to have used a very ineffective instrument (a small pocket-kuife), but he must go to prison for two years with hard labour.
THE ARMED ROBBERY NEAR KOWLOON CITY,
Tsu Yeung, Kong Ko, and Lam Leung pleaded not guilty to an indictment charging them with having committed an armed robbery near Kowloon City on the 28th ult.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND | nephew, who was sleeping in a mat-shed 80 feet | away. The nephew ran out to him to see what was the matter, and the robbers promptly at- tacked him. They took him back to the mat shed and tied him up to a pole by his queue and put a rope round his neck. They then proceeded to take off his trousers. This proved a bad thing to them, because these trousers were part of the property found in the prisoner's possession and which led to their identification. Besides taking off his trousers they burned both his hands. When the robbers had gone, the nephew, having been set loose, went to the Kowloon City police station and reported the matter to Sergeant Clark. In a few hours the police were fortunate enough to arrest the pri- soners with some of the stolen property in their possession.
The evidence given at the Magistracy was repeated.
The jury found the prisoners guilty. His Lordship severely animadverted on the prisoners' conduct, and sentenced them to nine years' imprisonment with hard labour, ordering each also to receive 20 strokes with the birch within a week of their being sentenced.
This concluded the business of the Sessions.
20th September.
IN SUMMARY JURISDICTION.
BEFORE HIS HONOUR T. SERCOMBE SMITH (ACTING PUISNE JUDGE.)
CLAIM AGAINST A PAWN-SHOP.
Ho To, a married woman residing at No. 20, Gough Street, sought to recover form the Shing Wo Pawn Shop, which carries on business at No. 164, Wellington Street, 8600 damage for alleged unlawful detention by the defendant of
one
case of gold-leaf, three pairs of gold bangles, and one gold chain, alleged to have been pledged by the plaintiff with the defendant. Mr. M. W. Slade (instructed by Messrs. Wilkinson and Grist) appeared for the plain- tiff and Mr. J. J. Francis. Q.C. (instructed by Mr. C. Ewens) for the defendant.
Mr. Slade said this was a claim for goods The following composed the jury:-Messrs. pawned with the defendant, and the defence C. E. Maligny, W. C. Barrett, Hector Rumford, was practically a denial that the ticket pre- S. F. de Jesus, W. H. Wickhamn, E. B. Ray-sented was issued by the defendant. The facts mond, and J. M. H. Meyer.
were exceedingly simple. On the 27th January last the plaintiff was residing in the house of a friend behind Queen's College. This was just before the Chinese New Year and she had an invitation to go to Canton to spend the New Year there. Before going she sent her valuables to a pawn-shop for safety, pawning goods of the value of $480.50 for 30 Taels. She sent them by a servant boy named Chan A Kan, who was employed at No. 260, Queen's Road. The address on the pawn-ticket was 260, Wellington Street. It should have been 260, Queen's Road. The plaintiff then went up to Canton, and while there she looked for her pawn-ticket, but could not find it. She thereupon through a friend instructed Mr. S. W. Tso, solicitor, to write claiming the articles she had pawned aud saying that she had lost her pawn-ticket. An answer was received from Mr. Ewens, solicitor to the pawn-shop, stating that they did not know any person of the name of Chan A Kan, that the ticket bearing the charao- ter stated had been issued by fraud, and that the articles in question had been redeemed. Shortly afterwards the plaintiff found her pawn- ticket and on the 28th March sent Chan A Yan round to the pawn-shop for her things, but the defendant declined to give up the goods, alleg ing that they had already be redeemed.
The Attorney-General said that if at about 11 o'clock on the evening of the 28th July last the jury could have been at the little village of Leung San Tsing, which was close by Kowloon City, they would have found in a little house a gardener, named Tsui Cho, and his wife and married daughter. About 80 feet away in a mat-shed was the old man's nephew. There was also a rice-cutter sleeping in a shed outside the house. At about mid- night on the 28th July seven or eight robbers armed with knives and carrying torches appear to have made a raid upon the old man's house with a view to robbing it. He did not know why they should have gone there. The old man was not rich. He had just sold some pigs, which he had not been paid for, and the robbers might have thought he had got the price of the pigs in the house. At all events these seven or eight men made a raid upon his premises. The door was not locked. First of all they seized the old man, searched him, and took some of his things. The old man was so frightened that he said, "If you want anything I will give it to you," and tried to run out of the house. He was intercepted by some of the gang, who cut him in several places, including the right should er, left arm, right cheek, and right side of the head. It was a piece of most barbarous and most wanton cruelty to a man who was not re- sisting them and only wanted to run away from them. The way that the old man was treated was so severe that he became insensible, and when the police came to the house he was sent to the Hospital, where he remained some con. siderable time. The robbers then turned their attention to the wife, one of them threatening her by saying, “If you shout out I will burn you with this toroh." They then struck her on the left arm with the back of a knife and stole her things. They then went to the married daughter and treated her in the same way. They told her they had knives with them and threatened to kill her, and took her silver bangles and things. In the meantime the old man called out to his
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The plaintiff, in her evidence, said she valued the gold-leaf at $200, the bangles at $212, and the gold chain at 868.50-total $480.50. She told Chan A. Yan to pawn the things for 30 Taels and he brought her $38.33.
In answer to Mr. Francis the plaintiff said she was a concubine. She got so much for expenses. Sometimes she did not spend it all, and she changed what she had left for gold-leaf. On the conclusion of the plaintiff's case, Mr. Francis said the case for the defence was ex- tremely simple. The ticket which had been issued by the defendant for the goods, was brought in, carefully examined by the defendant, and the goods were delivered up. In the pro- visions of Ordinance 3 of 1868, they were bound to deliver the goods to the person pre-
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[September 22, 1900.
senting the ticket, and they were completely exonerated. The ticket was tendered and the bound to deliver to the person holding the first month's interest taken, and they were ticket, and the defence was that the ticket tendered was the one issued by the defendants. Friday.
The farther hearing was adjourned until
On the 21st inst. the hearing of the case was continued and judgment was given for the defendant.
HONGKONG GENERAL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.
At the Monthly Meeting of the General Committee of the Hongkong General Chamber of Commerce, held on Tuesday, the 11th Sept., 1900, at 11.30 a.m.-Present: Hon. R. M. Gray (Chairman), Hon. J. J. Keswick (Vice- Chairman), Messrs. H. M. Bevis, A. Haupt, D. R. Law, A. M. Marshall, C. 8. Sharp, N. A. Siebs, Hon. J. Thurburn (ex officio) and R. C. Wilcox (Secretary),—
MINUTES.
The minutes of the previous monthly meeting (held 7th August) were read and confirmed.
FOURTH CONGRESS OF THE CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE OF THE EMPIRE.
The SECRETARY reported that a copy of the official report of the proceedings of the Con- gress had been received.
A letter from Hon. T. H. Whitehead, one of the Chamber's delegates, had also been received, explaining the reasons for his inability to at- tend the Congress, and detailing the steps he took to make the fact known in London by wiring when en route, and expressing his regret that he had been unavoidably prevented from being present to propose in person the resolu- tions entrusted to him.
A reply, expressing the Committee's appre- ciation of his efforts to carry out, as far as possible, his undertakings, was despatched to Mr. Whitehead on the 22nd August.”
PROPOSED CHANGE OF LIGHTS AT GREEN
ISLAND AND CAPE COLLINSON LIGHTHOUSES.
In conformity with the decision come to at the last meeting, a letter was, on the 10th August, addressed to the Government in reply to the above proposal. recommending its adop- tion, or, if the cost were not too great, to replace the existing fixed lights by flash or revolving lights.
The CHAIRMAN said that he understood the Public Works Department were going to take in hand shortly the change as proposed, rather than delay indefinitely to obtain specifications, &c., for revolving for flash lights, the cost of which might not eventually be sanctioned. The old D'Aguilar light for Green Island would have to be placed on the summit of the island in order to give it the required elevation, and the extra building involved would account to some extent for the estimated expense.
REUTERS TELEGRAMS.
Owing to the paucity of information of a reliable character received from North China, a letter was, on the 28th August, addressed to Reuter's Agent, asking that subscribers might be supplied with news from Peking or the Treaty Ports in lieu of some of the items usually given.
To this a reply was received on the following day, stating that the request made by the Cham- ber had been referred to the Head Office.
The Committee thought they had received a good deal more intelligence about China than before.
HONGKONG CONTRIBUTION TO THE EASTERN
MAIL SUBSIDY.
Read letter, dated 31st August, from the Government, enclosing copy of official corres- pondence on the above subject, and asking whether the Chamber wished to supplement the remarks contained in its letter of the 5th June, 1897. Also a further letter, dated 8th Septem- ber, requesting an early reply to above, as the matter was urgent.
The CHAIRMAN said-This question of the Postal subsidy was gone into very thoroughly by the Committee three years ago and an ex- haustive letter was sent in to the Colonial Secretary on the 5th June, 1897, to which I do not think that much can be added, except in so far as circumstances have altered to the extent of there being more mail lines, now than there