કિચન મા અને તેના મ
.494
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
"A", MACHINE GUN CO. The June competition for the cups and spoons took place at the New Volunteer Range on the 9th instant, when Corporal Plummer scored his first win on the No. 1 Cup, and Gunner Black sent in the best contribution towards the
No. 2 Cup.
these 1472 shares were on the London register| HONGKONG VOLUNTEER CORPS. of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, subject to a charge in favour of the Corporation of £975. In paragraph 5 of the special case it would be seen that 705 of the 1,472 shares were in the Shanghai list. The contention of the Attorney-General was that probate duty on these 1,472 shares ought to b paid in Hongkong, and the contention of the other side was that the shares were not situated in Hongkong, but respectively in England and within the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of Shanghai. Mr. Pollock submitted that, inas- much as the business of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank was entirely controlled from this colony-the provisions of the deed of settlement would bear that out-probate duty must be paid in this colony, and the shares must be considered as being within the jurisdiction of that honourable Court,
Mr. Pollock then dealt at length with the provisions of the deed of settlement, after which arguments were proceeded with.
THE "PAK KONG" OPIUM CASE.
Thirteen members competed, and the following were the best scores returned :-
200 400 500 H'cap. Tl. * Corporal Plummer 18 31 28 14 91 * Captain Sanders Gunner Black
(June 17, 1901.
by a still further drop this year unless British enterprise is equal to the occasion. The following table gives the returns for April. May, June and July of the past two years, and will bring vividly before the reader the great change that has taken place :-
May. 1899. 1920. RU 11
April. 1899. 1900. (Ships 28 11 British.. Tons 22,836 9,334 18,220 9,440
10
1 Tons 903 9,501
German. {Ships
+44
23 17
28 27
11
89
27 13
25
82
**
Smith, I.G... 19 26 Emmett
20
10
75
British..
74
German.
"
13 18 18 25
• Winners of spoons.
BRITISH TRADE WITH SIAM.
[BY A LATE SIAMESE RESIDENT.] When the next Consular report for Bangkok arrives it will have a serious tale of British shipping losses to tell. But it is not likely to come to hand for another five months or so, Mr. F. A. Hazeland on the 11th inst. and in the meantime I have prepared from the delivered the following decision in the case daily shipping returns of the Siamese Custom in which Captain Mason, master of the House a few tables showing what our loss in steamer Pak Kong, was charged, on the that direction has been. Put briefly, the complaint of Mr. Spooner, head excise officer, proportion of British vessels trading with with unlawfully receiving ou board the said Bangkok has fallen in three years from 76 per ship, for importation and landing. 150 taels of cent. to 38 per cent. while their tonnage has prepared opium, in contravention of Section dropped from 78 per cent. to 38 per cent. In 3 of Ordinance 21 of 1891 :
the same period the German vessels have risen from 7 per cent. to 51 per cent.; and the tonnage from 6 per cent. to 45 per cent. This has been brought about by the transfer of the Holt Line and the Scottish Oriental Fleet to the Norddeutscher-Lloyd. Taking the returns given in previous Consular reports, and com- paring them with the figures before me for the past year, we get the following table show ing the percentage of chief competing nations in regard to both number of vessels and tonnage:- 1897 1898 1899 1900
76 65 38 78 67 38
**
The defendant was summoned before me under Section 33 of the Opium Ordinance, 1891, for that he, as master of the steamship Pak Kong did, on the 30th May, 1991, use the said ship for the importation and landing of 150 taels of prepared opium.
"Section 33 of the Opium Ordinance, 1891 is as follows:-
"If any ship shall be used for the importation, landing, removal, carriage or conveyance of any opium in contravention of this Ordinance, the naster, owners or agents thereof shall be liable a penalty not exceeding one thousand dollars.
to
An amount of any such opium found on board any such ship and exceeding.
(a.) In the case of any steamship of 60 tons burden and upwards, Tls. 50 in weight, (b.) In the case of any steamship under 60
tons burden, Tls. 25 in weight,
(c.) In the case of all other ships, Tls. 10 in
weight,
shall be deemed evidence of the unlawful use of any such ship unless it be proved to the satisfaction of the Magistrate that every reasonable precaution had been taken to prevent the unlawful use of any such ship, and that none of the officers or their servants or any of the crew of such ship were implicated therein.'
44
I reserved the preliminary question as to the construction to be placed on the words found on board in this Section. The evidence which
was adduced by the prosecution as to the finding of the opium was to the effect that at 5 a.m. on the 30th May last, three and a half hours aftor the arrival of the steamship Pak Kong, a cer tain man was seen on the gangway of the said Puk Kong. He then came
off the vessel and went through the gates of the wharf on to the Praya. There he was arrested, and on his person were found 30 tins of prepared opium, which weighed 150 taels. Although the penalty imposed is merely a precuniary one, the Section is of an exceedingly stringeut nature, and in my opinion I ought to apply to it that paramount rule which requires that every penal statute should be construed strictly The actual finding ou board is of the essence of the Section, and it is not suffici. ent simply to prove that the opiam came from off the vessel. I am moreover of opinion that the Legislature intended that the offence
should be restricted to cases of opium actually found on a ship, obviously to give the master of the said ship an opportunity to exculpate
himself.
66
My finding is therefore for the defendant, and I order this summons to be dismissed."
We regret to learn that Mr. W. Machell, formerly assistant master at Queen's College, died on the 16th March last.
British..
German.{
**
+4
p. c. of vessels 74 tonnage 77 vessels 5 tonnage 8
6
16 45
7
10
51
French.
vessels 5
B
"
tonnage
vessels 11
5
*
navian
11
tonnage 11
4
Scandi-
All others{
"
11
? 4
vessels tounage 2 6
8
10 01 00 01
Among all others the nations showing the greatest activity are the Russians, Danish, and Dutch. In 1897 the Danes had one vessel of 523 tons. They have since established a regular line, and last year their figures were twelve vessels of 8,103 tons. The Dutch, with none in 1897, had last year thirteen vessels of 5,216 tons., Although the
TRANSFER OF THE HOLT LINE
!
8 12 3,118 11,426
June.
1899. 1900.
23
6
July. 1899. 1900.
16
17
Ships
100 Tons 20,039 4,742 14,49) 8,641 Ships
& 23 Tons 903 16,100 8,486 21,368 Unfortunately this is no isolated example of German encroachment in the Far East,
44
WE ARE YIELDING ALL ALONG THE LINE.
They are reaping a rich harvest from the Conference, which ties the hands of our merchants, and compels them to ship by certain lines only, at a fixed freight. Given Free Trade in freights, and the Englishman can hold his own. Before the Conference" freights from Singapore to London were 23s. to 278. per ton. British superiority of organisation, &c., "enabled us to carry on this business where our rivals would before long have been driven off. But the
*
Conference came into existence, freights jumped up to 378. 6d. 528 6d., and the Germans went ahead. They are extending feeders to their The Siam and Borneo lines in a'l directions. purchases are part of a steady policy which is putting steamers on the Burma and China rivers, and others running down into Oceana. Mean- while an independent British steamer may call at our British colonies in vain. The merchants cannot depend on tramps; they must ship by the regular liners, as a rule. They are made to pay through the nose for the convenience, even after we allow for the 10 per cent. rebate But that allowed at the end of the year. rebate is not paid if a single ton of merchan- dise has been shipped by an independent steamer. Thus a British merchant in a British colony may be forced to refuse cargo to a British steamer, and then to ship it by German liner, because the latter is in the
Conference."
One excuse given for the sale of the Siam lines was that they did not pay. This seems hardly credible to those who examine the values of cargo carried. In fact the British steamers trading with Bangkok had the most valuable of the cargoes in and out. Every ton of British shipping in 1893-4 carried cargo worth 109 dols., increased the following year to 119 dols. In and 106 dols. per ton, French 11 dols. and 82 the same years German vessels took 71 dols., dols., and Scandinavian 98 dols. and 100 dols. The value per ton given in the Consular return for 1898 - none of later date are given-are :- British, 153 dols.; German 132 dols: French, 66 dols.; and Scar dinavian, 111 dols. The most valuable cargoes, or the best filled ships-which- ever be the explanation of these figures - are not the worst paying, and if the other nationali- ties were able to trade and extend on their lower values, no oue is likely to beliove in the
n-paying theory as regards our own vessels. gathered from the above table that not only Germans.
Be that as it may, we havo capitulated to the There is at hand in Germany a have we fallen off in numbers, but we have period of great economic stress. Every effort deteriorated in quality. itherto our tonnage will be made by means of proferential through. percentage has been higher by two points than
rates and so forth to help the German manu. our number of vessels. Last year the two per-facturers to force their goods into new markets centages were equal, while the German propor. So far, by the aid of their own intrinsic worth. tions had a difference of six in favour of the tho friendly relations of the Siamese, and the tonnage. The Germans have not only bought possession of the only rolly regular lines of our biggest ships, but we have made no attempt communication with Bangkok, our goods have to compete with them by running other big
gone ahead in Siam. ones instead.
is no new fact, it has not hitherto been possible to gauge to the full the disastrous effect of this deal, and of that other by which the Scottish Oriental steamers, passed under the same flav. It might have been expected that there would have been a large increase in the number of tramp, steamers flying the British flag. But
such has not been the case, and it will be
But even now we do not know the whole of our loss. The transfer of the Holt Line-the Blue Funnel steamers-took place on July 1, 1899, and this six months' change of day ex- plained the drop of our percentage of shipping in that year's consular report from 76 per cent. to 65 per cent. The transfer of the Scottish Oriental-the Red Funnel line-did not take place until last April. Therefore there were three months during which they appear in the returns now before me as British. Hence the drop to 38 per cent. will be followed
non-
What will happen when they have to face the bandicap of carriage in German bottoms at rates in advance of those charged for German goods ?—Bangkok Times,
It is stated that in the now Japanese Cabinet Mr. Komura, Japanese Minister to Peking, will probably be appointed to the Foreign Depart- ment; and it is reported that he has been ordered to return to Japan immediately. In that case Mr. Kurino, Japanese ex-Minister to Paris, is expected to succeed Mr. Komura in Peking.