460
covered up with matting, so that it was not strikingly visible. The woman who was taking the body up was incensed at the refusal of the boat people to take it ashore, and she indignantly produced a permit from the Registrar-General of Hongkong anthorising the removal of a dead body. It was eventually dumped on the Chinese side of the river awaiting conveyance to ceme- tery. But should not a dead body be covered up decently? The dead carcase of a sheep even must be covered when carried along the streets of Hongkong.
LICHEES.
The crop of lichees is remarkably good and great quantities of the fruit are being des- patched every day to the Hongkong market.
THE PHILIPPINES.
[FROM OUR Own correspONDENT. ¦
Manila, P.I., 6th June. Last week was marked by an event of great significance. This was the news, received unofficially, of the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Thomas E. Kepner, a Manila lawyer. The ruling, in brief terms, establishes the illegality of any appeal by the Government from acquittal for the defence in criminal cases, so that all such cases already pending may be dismissed on proper motion.
AN IMPORTANT DECISION.
Kepner was acquitted some time ago by the lower court of the charge of misappropriating certain funds belonging to a client.
The case
was carried to the Philippines Supreme Court by the Government, with the result that the lower court's decision was reversed. The defence then appealed to the United States Supreme Court on the grounds that, under the provisions of the Philippine Act of July 1st, 1902, the defendant was placed twice in jeopardy, which is also out of accord with the terms of the National Constitution. The Philippine Act, however, was intended to cover the provisions of the Constitution of the United States, but in the point at issue the Government has always contended that a case was never completed so long as it was in appeal, and thus there was no second jeopardy. The Supreme Court of the United States now holds that the jeopardy ends with the original decision, interpreting the Philippine Act just as the Constitution would be interpreted.
|
Kepner's alleged offence was committed prior to the passage by Congress of the Philippine Act, but it is a principle of common law that any new law in favour of an accused criminal is retroactive, and when in favour of the Govern- ment it is ex post facto. On this same principle a number of important cases now before the Philippine Supreme Court, which were carried up by the Government under an old Spanish law in force at the time the offences were alleged to have been committed, are similarly affected by the decision and must be dismissed on motion when they are reached in the docket. One case in particular is that of Dr. Gomez, whose acquittal of the charges of conspiracy and treason, it will be remembered, was quite recent ly appealed by the Government.
DR. GOMEZ.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
RICARTE 64 THE VIPEE.
+1
The subject of bandolerismo brings me back to Ricarte. The Government is still framing charges against its prisoner. Incidentally, those already prepared have had to be reconstructed on account of the prisoner's admissions giving his case a different aspect. The Government is confronted by no foothold to accuse treason, inasmuch as Ricarte, unlike Gomez, never took the oath of allegiance to the United States and was in active opposition to its rule at the time that country acquired the Philippines, and has been ever since. A subject of the United States he undoubtedly is, and clearly a rebel- lious one, but he is not 8 citizen; and under the peculiar circumstances can scarcely be charged with treason or traitorous conduct. Thus the only grounds for prosecution can be bandolerismo, or armed and organised defiance of the lawful government, and conspiracy to raise a rebellion, and these will probably be the offences ultimately charged.
|
A CONVICTION CONFIRMED.
The same telegram that conveyed the news of the Kepner decision, which, by the way, was sent by the Attorney-General of the Philippines representing the case at Washington, contained word of the finding in two other appeal cases before the Supreme Court. These were the cases of Dorr and O'Brien, the newspaper men tried for sedition. The Judges, with only one in dissent, found against the accused and con. firmed their sentences, which means the payment of a heavy fine and a term in prison, unless the pardoning authority intervenes, as many believe he will.
Speaking of the principle of jeopardy, I am reminded that Dr. Gomez has a fair prospect that one of the three charges remaining against him will be thrown out of court. I refer to the count of bandolerismo, in which essentially the same evidence as that used in the treason case will be offered in support. In such an event the accused will be on trial a second time for the same offence, as although under a different law the same acts will be offered in proof. As well as this, trial of the charge of misappropriation of funds promises to result favourably for him. The funds alleged to have been misappropriated are those of the Union Obrera, which has already been decided to have been an illegal organisa- tion. Hence the organisation in question is not likely to have any status before the Court. However, if the Supreme Court decides unfav- ourably in Goméz's appeal case (ie., the illegal organisation" count) then his chances will not be so bright. As it is, like Barkis, he has hopes, and would have but one offence left to answer for.
Manila. 10th June. RICARTE SENTENCED.
Artemio Ricarto, the "Viper." was yesterday charged on remand with carrying fire-arms without a permit from the authorities.
Defendant was convicted and sentenced to one year and one day imprisonment and $1,000 fine. or to the subsidiary imprisonment for insolvency and to the payment of the costs of the trial.
**
BRITISH TRADE IN CHINA.
INTERNATIONAL RIVALRY,
has many,
(June 18, 1904..
converse. British trade, in the abstract, still flourishes, and may indeed be said to flourish exceedingly, but, in the concrete, its profits are no longer distributed in the same direction, nor do they benefit the same persons. The trade of China is like the Egyptian Nile. In the old days, in making its way to the sea it overflowed and enriched with fertilising alluvium the re- gions through which it passed. We have, with the best of motives, canalised it, so that it enters the sea in even greater volume, but it no longer enriches all and sundry who tarry on its banks. They await in vain the lavish overflow to which they were accustomed. The stream has been so nursed and conserved that, unless they are wise enough to make use of the hundred and one irrigation channels into which its waters have been diverted they find at last that its benefits are no longer for the first comer as they used to be, and that its profits are much harder to come by. There was a time when the British mer- chant had very few rivals in the field. Now he and some are of his own making. His European competitors are yearly becoming more numerous and more formidable. They came in flattering imitation of himself, and at first 'sat at the feet of Gamaliel,' but have by this time learned all there was to learn, and have in many ways bettered his instruction. His best resource is now to sit at the feet of his quondam pupils, and learn, like them, to pick up the crumbs that fall from the table. Except in shipping and banking, commerce, with a big 'C' has passed out of his hands, and nothing seems left him but trade with a small t Though British shipping has yearly increased in tonnage and, during the current year, also in percentage, the number of British firms of repute doing business as merchants either in imports or exports harder to compete with their foreign rivals. is falling off, and those still here find it daily
When first British merchants established themselves at Hankow they confined themselves to the tes trade, of which Hankow the so-called muck and truck,' leaving it was then the centre, and treated with contempt
entirely in the hands of French and German firms who got hold of the connections which they still retain. The Hankow tea trade, having been wounded to the death as far as the United Kingdom was concerned, by the pushing firms of India and Ceylon, and having consequently fallen almost entirely into Russian hands, British merchants found it increasingly difficult merchants began to purchase their imports at to do any business, the more so as the Chinese Shanghai and Hongkong, instead of through the agency of the local firms. The British, since their Concession adjoins the native city, hold the most advantageous position on the river, yet as soon as the Pei-Han Railway is in full working order, the centre of trade may be expected to gravitate towards the French railway station, and to the German Concession, Concession, immediately behind which is the through which a branch line of the railway is Germans and, to a certain extent, the Belgians to be carried down to the water's edge. The
seem to have secured for themselves all the Chinese Government contracts for machinery of every description, the local arsenal, ironworks, and mint being fitted out with their manu. factures. The Japanese are to provide rifles for the Chinese troops, as rifles of Japanese make are both cheaper and more effective than those that have hitherto been supplied by German firms. The blame for the lack of success of British firms in these, as in other branches of trade, though commonly ascribed to the supine attitude of British Consular officials towards the efforts of British merchants, would seem to be in reality with the firms themselves, who make no serious effort to push their goods in opposition to those of other countries. At the representative with a request that he will hand most they send a price list to the local Consular it on to some local agent; but they overlook the deal direct with the manufacturers, and that the fact that the Chinese Government prefers to local firms have no facilities for bringing their goods to the direct notice of the authorities. The only effectual method is to send accredited agents with full particulars to the officials in charge of factories in order to expound the advantages of British-made machinery, or te native merchants in order to point out the superiority of the article, which they are trying to sell, and to secure orders therefor."
Mr. Acting Consul General Playfair's Report on the trade of Hankow for the year 1903-an unusually prompt and informative document contains some interesting remarks on the rivalry to whieh British trade is now subject in the Far East. We quote the following passages :—
British trade in China, that is to say, trade conducted not only in British goods, but by British hands, has undergone a transformation. The change has been gradual, and has extended over many years. The majority of those engag- ed in it have found it difficult to adapt them selves to the new methods which they will have to follow if they wish to maintain their grasp and not see their livelihood slip away from them. The metamorphosis is not in the British trader himself, but in those with whom the trade is conducted-viz., the Chinese; and unless the British merchant recognises facts and can accommodate himself to the novel con- ditions, he will find himself supplanted by those who are
more pliant and adaptable. The United Kingdom has taken a large and laudable share in promoting the education of the Chinese. We have preached to them and exhorted them and entreated them to adopt larger views, and to assimilate the wisdom and superior methods of the West. We have impressed on them that they are really ignorant people, and that they cannot possibly move forward unless they model themselves meekly they have recognised this.
on European lines. Tacitly and they have avowed their own shortcomings. So Silently unostentatiously, and in that so skilfully, has the transformation been effected that in many ways they have turned the tables on us, and we have been blind to the fact. Their education has been so complete and their adaptability so thorough that they have shouldered us out of positions which we formerly occupied unques- tioned. The volume of British trade is not here spoken of; that continues to increase yearly, and no doubt will
go on doing 80 as long as we have something to sell which the native of China wishes to buy or the
|
!
Y