June 26, 1909.]
THE CHINA SOCIETY.
DINNER AT THE TROCADERO.
SPEECH BY CHINESE MINISTER.
After dinner the Chairman submitted the toasts of His Majesty the King and His Majesty the Emperor of China, which were loyally honoured.
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT. friendly feeling which I am proud to think is reflected in London by the official representatives of each country, as it also is by the Japan Society and the China Society. (Applause.) I congratulate you on the successful session which this evening's banquet brings to a conclusion, and I heartily hope that many more are in store for you. (Applause.)
The toast was musically honoured. Mr. ARTHU
stood
ed
cause.
on
11
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(From our London Correspondent.) The members of the China Society, to the toast, expressed on behalf of the members, of the Drosy. in responding to the number of over 200, held their annual dinner at Society, his gratitude to Lord Li for the ap- the Empire Rooms of the Trocadero Restaurant, preciative words he had used concerning the work London, on 26th May. His Excellency the of the Society. They accepted his praise Chinese Minister (Lord Li Ching Fong) because they knew it to be well deserved. They presided, and the attendance included Charles and Lady
Sir had the honour to belong to a young, active, Dudgeon, Sir H. Wilkinson, Sir J. Brown, Lady Clarke Jervoise, work in its short lifetime and would do better S. and healthy Society that had done very good Mr. C. S. Addis, Mr. H. J. Allen, Miss Andrew, work in the future. Mr. A. G. Angier, Miss Baker, Mr. and material for the Society to work upon.
There was
no lack of Mrs. Blackwell, Mr. Thos. Brown, Mr. and range of their labours could go back to B. C. The Mrs. Byron Brenan, Mr. and Mrs. R. H. Burder, Mr. Gordon Carter, Mr. and to-day. There was no more interesting land in H. 2,000, as well as occupy itself with the China of Mrs. Cartwright, Mr. V. C. Chang, Mr. Ivan the world than China, and the China of the Chen, Mr. A. Diosy, Mr. G. B. Dodwell, Mr. future was fall of mighty portent. The matter Mrs. and Miss Judd, Mr. and Mrs. L. Giles, which they could extract from all this material Col. and Mrs. Edwards, Mr. and Mrs. H. G. would be valuable and useful. Harwood, Mr. J. R. Michael, Mr. and Mrs. J.
The Society H. Perry, Mr. B. C. G. Scott, Mr. G. Jamieson,
a sound basis and was conduct- on sound Mr. E. G. Jamieson, Mr. Frank Souter. Mr. was fortunate in having Mr. Byron Brenan common-sense principles. It and Mrs. A. P. Stokes, Miss Troup, Rev. and Watson, Mr. M. T. Whang, Mr. and Mrs. They were
Mr. Ivan Chen for honorary secretaries. Wilson, Mr. A. G. Wood, Mr. E. Yamaza and tlemen, as practical as
two zealous, indefatigable gen- Mr. A. Zimmern.
ever served a good to a great extent in their hands, and one might The management of the Society was left say with Sir Christopher Wren to see their monument, look around." (Applause.) If you want
His EXCELLENCY then proposed the toast lency' support and encouragement. Lord Li was The Society also owed a good deal to His Excel- of "Prosperity to the China Society." Lord the second Envoy Extraordinary to preside over Li said:-After # year's separation we their Society, and if ever a moment of difficulty meet again, all of us feeling, I hope, that should present itself and they should require we have derived some benefit from the course his powerful patronage and protection he felt of treatment We have undergone during sure they would not appeal to Lord Li in vain the Society's last session. At the outset, (Applause.)
Lord Li took a keen interest in the possibly, the programme of the session, Society. The great empire could not have a viewed as a whole, may have seemed rather a better representative in their midst than Lord stiff and heavy course to go through, but taken Li, who was the adopted son of Li Hung Chang. in small quantities at intervals of four weeks the man who foresaw that changes were to come' it has proved an easy task, as is testified by the in China. It was possible that the methods presence of so many to-night at the finish. by which these changes were being brought,
My toast is
The prosperity of the China about would not in every Society"; indeed, it will have need to prosper themselves to the deceased statesman, but Li case commend and live long if it is to have the full advantage of Hung Chang was the first to see that these the rich store of materials that are within its reach. changes had to come. Years China goes back a long way as a nation, and its in England as Secretary to the Chinese Legation Lord Li was ago literature enables us to reconstruct the picture and he revisited England with Li Hing Chang, as it existed 2,000 or more years B.C. There is He had now to ask them to drink the health of a wonderful charm in looking back through a their Chairman, and in doing so he would remind vista of several thousand years. What may seem them they were drinking to a great country, quite commonplace as it lies in front of us is China was not only of the past and present invested with deep interest when our imagination but also of the future. It was in the China of views it in an atmosphere made dim by the the past that Lord Li spent his boyhood, and lapse of centuries. For example, what a pleasing whatever they might think of the necessity for picture was presented to us recently by the change in China they had to bow respectfully to Cambridge procession of a taxicab plying for hire a system now passing away which was able to in the capital of the Chow Kingdom 20 centuries keep together the largest number of human ago. Everything new of to-day seems to have beings of one race in a very fair state of happi- had its conterpart in Ancient China, and who ness, comfort and contentment for a larger knows but that before we meet again in this space of time than was recorded of any other room next year some rival professor may have system in the world. discovered that the aeroplane was much used by those same ingenious Chow people. (Laughter and applause.) A remark recently made by a speaker at one of your meeetings suggests the reflection that interesting as the China of B.C. 2,000 may be, the China of the 20th century is also entitled to some notice. We go to the British Museum to see old chariots and to the Tower to see old cannons, but we go to Long Acre, or to Woolwich, to see what is a most successful evening. The China Society Mr. G. JAMIESON thought they had spent being done to-day, and I throw out the sugges- fulfilled a useful purpose and brought together tion that some of your meetings might be many old friends. devoted to subjects dealing with the modern would increase and the Society long continue to He hoped the membership condition of China. (Applause.) Our countries flourish. During the past session they had had are now closely connected by ties, commercial, a number of interesting papers and the Council political, financial and social, that we cannot hoped to have then printed to keep as a record. know too much of each other as we are in the In time these would make a valuable and im- present day. With nations, mutual understand-portant contribution to Far Eastern affairs, and ing forms the most durable bond, and engenders he hoped the members would support this proposal on both sides that useful virtue of making financially.
If China did well in the remote past, he felt convinced that untler the leadership of such men, as Lord Li represented, China would do better even still in the future. (Applause.)
The toast having been honoured, this conluded the speeches and the ladies withdrew.
A short informal business meeting was then held.
allowance for those who differ in opinion. 'In Lord Li proposed that the Accounts, which this I am sure I shall be borne out by my friend showed a balance on the right side, be adopted. Mr. Yamaza, who to-night represents a sister He described them as the budget of the Society, institution, the Japan Society. The geographical and added that they would not want him to position of our two countries enables them to explain what a budget was. (Laughter.) The know each other intimately, and as a consequence accounts were passed, the Council re-elected, the best understanding exist between them, aland the proceedings terminated.
561
THE LANGKAT SHARES CASE
AT SHANGHAI.
Mr. F. 8. A. Lourne, Acting Judge of H.B.M.'s Supreme Court at Shanghai, de- livered judgment on the 17th inst. in the interesting case of F. L. Marshall v. Mrs. Florence Nazer, as follows:-
This is an action claiming specific perform- April 17, 1909, to deliver on June 28, 1909, fifty ance of a contract made by defendant dated shares in the Langkat Company, payment to be transfer. made at Tls. 950 a share on delivery of sorip and
The defendant pleaded that plaintiff had bought as broker for principals whose names he entitled to sue. had since disclosed" and "was therefore not At the suggestion of the Court it was agreed between counsel that the following issue should first be tried: Is the plaintiff entitled to sue?
to
Mr.
The bought contract note is in the form usual dressed to "The concerned. I have bought on here in forward share, transactions. It is ad-
your account from Mrs. Nazer, etc., etc., broker- age half broker.
per cent., signed F. L. Marshall, Sale confirmed (signed) Florence Nazer, seller." The words here used must be interpretation of all written contracts. given their plain and literal meaning, as in the Douglas ingeniously suggested that plaintiff was acting as a commission merchant: if he was he should have said 80. Mr. Marshall as broker to an undisclosed principal. Nazer contracted
sell through Mr.
that he bought these fifty shares himself: he Now it appears from Mr. Marshall's books
was short fifty shares which he had sold forward as principal on April 14 and 15 at prices ranging sold twenty-five more at Tls. 950 and he said between Tls. 812) and Tls. 860. On the 17th he that he had really intended to allocate twenty five of Mrs. Nazer's shares to this contract. But his books do not show this, nor did ho give any reason: the sales to which he allocated Mrs. Nazer's shares were prior the 17th, were at lower prices, and would in date to the sale of the twenty-five on
that he sat down in the evening sometimes long come first to be provided for his evidence shows sometimes short and allocated purchases and clearly combining the business of jobber, that is, sales according to convenience: in fact he was dealer in shares, with that of broker, whose office it is merely to establish privity of contract previous case (Lin v. Graham, between two principals, I have pointed out in a Daily News,
North-China
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form of contract
C
14
July 13, 1903) the vice of the the custom as followed in Shanghai share- for the concerned and dealing-that it provides a cloak for such equivocal transactions. home Fletcher Moulton L. J. said:
In a recent case at the Stock Exchange securities may in the On
course of a day, or even of a much shorter time, vary in price, and a broker who considers that of the transaction to his client, or to give he has no duty to report the actual price him the whole benefit of the transaction he has carried out on behalf of his principal, is always under the temptation of making customer, and often may do so without running a profit by the transaction at the expense of his
the least risk of detection. Such behaviour on the part of a broker appears to me to come under that class of cases dealt within the case of Robin- son v. Mollett (1875) L.R. 7 H.L. 802, so that not even proving a usage on the market would make the principal liable, because it would be s broker and the nature of the dealing. If that usage which really changes the character of the be so, the question whether or not, in the parti- cular instances which go to make the account has in fact abused his opportunities in the sense sued on in the present case, the London broker of making exorbitant profits appears to me to be wholly irrelevant to the question we have to decide. The contract which the plaintiff made with the London broker was one by which he might make profits, and, therefore, was not a contract of brokerage, whether or not any or K. D. p. 530. The principal enploys the broker exorbitant profit were in fact made." (1908) 2 to place shares expecting to get the benefit of his tainable: if the broker buys the shares himself it skill and industry in selling at the best price ob- will naturally be at as low a price as he honestly can-if he happen to be honest: the dishonest