May 28, 1906.}
CORRESPONDENCK.
REGISTRATION OF PARTNERSHIPS.
TO THE Editor of THE
DAILY PRESS.
Hongkong, 21st May. SIB, I have read with interest your report of the discussion at the last meeting of the Legislative Council upon the subject of the registration of partnerships.
I have long thought that legislation upon the lines proposed by the Hou. Mr. Pollock, namely, registration of partnerships with limited liability, is much more li ely to be successful than compulsory registration of firms such as was formerly proposed.
The power of limiting their liabili'y will be an inducement to the Chinese to register and will remove the objection which they would otherwise have to registration; and the fao, that the proposed legislation will bring our law more or less into accord with Chinese law on the Bubject, will predispose the Chinese to look favourably upon the matter, and to assist i giving effect to any law which may be passed on the subject
It is interesting to note that lagisl«tion, anch ss is now sugested, was proposed in England so far back as the year 188. sud a bill for that purpose was actually in roduced, passed through Committee and read a 8:coud time in the House of Commons.
The bill in question was the bill for th Partnership Act, which ten years later, after various alterations, during which the clauses as to limited partnerships were struck out, becsme law under the title of the Partners ip Act 1890, and was incorporated into the law of this Colony as the Partnership Ordinance 1897.
The bill was drafted by Sir Frederick Pollock, and hestates that the clauses as to limited
pai ship were framed by him after comparison of the statutes of Ma-sachusetts, New York, and other American States on the subject of special or limited partnerships, and the provisions of the French and German Commercial Cudes as to partnershi, s en Commandite.
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The main features of the scheme were 88 follows :-
1. A limited partner was one whose liability for the debts of the film was limited to the amonnt which he had coutributed or agreed to contribute to the capital of the partnership.
[Under this clause the liability of a limitel partner would resemble that of a shareholder in a limited company, and in this respect the scheme differed from the Chinese law on the subject.]
2.-A limited partnership must contain one or more general "pariners whose liability was unlimited, and must be registered,
3. Without regis'ration there was no limita. tion of liability,
4. A limited partner had no right to take par in the management of the partnership business and no authority to bind the firm.
5. A limited partnership was to be entered into for a fixed term and might not be dissolved before the expiration of that tom unless all the partnership debts were paid.
6. The general partners only wre liable to be made bankrupt in respect of the firm's debts
7. The statement for registration had to contain the names and addresses of each partner, and the sum to be contributed by each limited partner, and whether to be paid in cash or otherwise.
Under this soleme there would be no nec ssity for any firm to register unless they thought fit but without registration they would not obtain the benefit of limited liability.
The question will require a great deal of cou. sideration, and a comparison of the bill above m ntioned might be useful in drafting the Ordinance proposed to be introduced - Yours faithfully,
JOHN HASTINGS.
The Nanfangpao of May 18th states that the British Charge d'Affaires bas informed the Waiwupu that British engineers are coming to Clins to begin the survey of the railway from Shantung to Chinkiạng, and that com- missioner Lockhart of Weihaiwei has been app ioted to proceed to Chinan to arrange with the Shantung Governor regarding the ccustiuction of the line.
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CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
A MARRIAGE PROPOSAL.
PROSPECTIVE SON-IN-LAW'S LETTER,
The following is an exact copy, from an Indian paper, of a letter sig oed "A Datiful Son-in-law, received by a Hindu father asking for the hand of his daughter :-
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is being collected by the gentry and people of Chekiang province. The first line will run from Kungshan Bridge, near Kiangkan, a distance of 45 li along the Chientang River, whence it will be pushed on to Kashing and Soochow The Governor of Shantung has memorialised the Throus that the concession granted to Germany for the Chinanfu-Ching. ting Railway has been redeemed and prepara tious for the construction of this line are progressing. The necessary funds have been raised for the constraction of a railway from Tsitsikar to Aigun and work will be undertaken at once. The sanction of the Shangpu has line from Tihus, capital of Chine Turkestan, been obtained for the constrnotion of a railway
to Kashgar, in Mongolia, partly for commercisi purposes and partly to forestall a possible design on the part of Russia to construct such
a line.
Dear Sir, It is with a fettering penmanship that I write to have communication with you shout the prospective condition of your damsel offspring. For some remote time to past, a secret passion has firing my bosom internally with loving for your daughter. I have navi. gated every channel in the magnitude of my extensive jurisdiction to cruelly smother the growing love-knot that is being constructed in my within side, but the humid lamp of affec- tion trimmed by Cupid's productive hand still nourishes my love-sickened heart. Needless would it be for me to numerically extem. porize the great conflagration that has been generated in my head and heart. During the A STRANGE TRAGEDY IN KWANG-
TUNG. region of rightness my intellectual craniom has been entangled in thoughtful attitude after my beloved consort: nocturnal slumberlessness bas been the infirmity which has besieged my now degenerate constitution. My educational capabilities have abandoned me, and here I now cling to those lovely long tresses of your much core ed daughter like a marine ship wrecked on the rock of love.
As to my scholastic cli-occurred bre, I was recently ejected from Calcutta Ua. iversity, I am now masticating and will make a more as soon as I perceive of life, a little lax- ative. I am of a lofty and original lineage and of independent incomes and boping that having debate this proposition to your pregnant mind, you will concordantly corroborate in espousing your female prog ny to my tender bosom and thereby acquire me into your family circle.
THE PEKING POLICE.
CHINESE OR JAPANESE CONTROL.
According to a Tokyo dispatch, the Chinese Gorerument appears to stand very firm to its decision to recover the control of the police administration in Peking, which is at present entrusted to the Japauese authorities. The negotiations now proceeding aud carried on by Mr. Uchi, Japanese Minister in Peking, for the ren-wal of the contract have little prospect of success, says the Japan Chronicle.
From bitter experience of the outbreak of the Boxer disturbance, continues the dispatch, the Powers place no confidence whatever in the Chinese police administration, and feel more confidence when the duty is entrusted to the Japanese, having raised no objection whatever to the arrangement. If the Chinese Gorera- ment determines to discontinue the present system, the Powers will certainly not remain Issive, and the administration of the Peking police will undoubtedly be undertaken by the jint action of the Powers, In that event the Chinese Government will have to face far more diffic Ities than now arise in entrusting the administration to the Japanese Go ernment. When these circumstances are known, it is
believed that the Chinese Government will yield to the Japanese demand for a renewal of the preseut arrangement.
CHINESE RAILWAY ENTERPRISE.
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It is well known that the Chinese, and especially Chinese women, are led to commit suicide by the slightest provocation, and, indeed often without any real provocation at all. ⠀ The papers to hand yesterday tell us that a or batoh of suicides remarkable suicide
a few days ago.
What exactly was behind the foolish act does not seem very clear.
or if it be, it is kept in the. backgroun I as far as the public are concerned. At a place called Tsikukaal in the Puenyue district close to Canton, no less than seven human beings tied themselves together and then flung themselves into a pond of a garden connected with the honse where one of them resided. Not long since we recorded a batch of anicides of the sa ne nature, where several young married women tied themselves together and killed themselves rather than return to their ha-bands, who in some cases were believed to treat their wives very ornelly. Here, however, na motive is assigned to explain the deed, and the fact that there is a man and also a very yonog maiden among the suicides makes the mystery all the more puzzling. At first the father of the man who took his life refused to have anything to do with the dead body, but discretion was the better part of valour and to evade a scene and much trouble he at last consented to take the corpse and give it a proper Chinese burial.--N.-C. Daily News.
MISCELLANEOUS.
HI.H. the Sultan of Brunei died on May 10th, after a few week's illness. He is succeeded by H. H. Pangeran Bandahára. The deceased was 83 years old.
The Saigon police bave arrested a European for complicity with an Annamite band of robbers. He furnished the pirates with arms and operated with them in their expeditions" When the police approached the men they were received with shots, and a number of the band suc eeded in making their escape.
Lu Saigon the persistent rise of the dollar is using some dissatisfaction, and those in receipt of wages an of salaries-the French journal draws a ice distinction-complain that their remuneration is calculated on the frane basis, which does not benefit them when they have to purchase commodities with piastres, The high dollar, with its approaching stabilisation, only advantages the merchants, and acts to the pre- To obviate this it is judice of consumers. suggested that those interested should smalga. mate to secure that all goods should be sold on the frano bisis.
According to the Nanfungpao of May 19th the officials and gentry of Shansi have decided that the first line of railway to be built by them shall run from Taiyuanfu to Pingyao, a distance of 300 odd li. They have also received the consent of the Bhangpu and decided to build
The Chia se coolies employed on the railwaya. lines from Tatungfu to Kalgan, viê Shiopiogfo,
are as a rule listless and apparently lasy. One Kueihuacheng, and Shuynancheng; from Puchon to Tungkuan, passing over the Yellow River; method of escaping masenlar effort in handling and from Pingyang to Tsechou, connecting a shovel in track grading that seems to be very with the Tsokou and Tsecbon Railway. They popular is a chain attachment to the shovel are also raising capital to build a railway from handle near the blade. One coolie raises the Taiyuanfu a point on the Peking-Kalgan Rail-shovel and drops it into the gravel or dirt while way, through Hananhuacbeng and Sungshikuan. another at the end of the chain pulls forward The Kaifeng-Chengchon line, 140 li in length, the shovel blade, usually only partially filled is completed but for the laying of the rails and with earth, to the desired plaos. This device is expected to be entirely completed and in for lazy workmen appears to be a recognised feature of the prevailing method of railroad running order during the coming 5th moon. Chinese chief engineer has been appointed for maintenance. It constituted, in fact, a toy hand- the Hangchow-Soochow Railway and capital scraper,
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