14
EMIGRATION AND IMMIGRATION.
Commander Basil R. H. Taylor, R.N., Har- bour Master, supplies the following interesting particulars regarding emigration and im- migration in his annual report for 1908 :-
Seventy-one thousand and eighty-one (71,081) emigrants left Hongkong for various places during the year; of these, 53,118 were carried in British ships and 17,963 in Foreign ships. These figures show a great falling off (from 105,967) of 34,886 Emigrants, or 32.9 per cent. compared with those for 1907.
It is difficult to account for this largo decrease, but it was probably partly due to the general depression in trade which restricted the demand for labour and partly to the quarantine restrictions placed upon vessels from the Colouy to other ports. The anti-Chinese feeling in certain parts of the world culminating in legis. lation against Asiatics no doubt also had a deterrent effect upon emigratioa. But the chief causes undoubtedly were:-
(1.) The cessation of Assisted Emigration to
Banka and Billiton. This branch of the business was commenced only in 1907, and served to largely well the figures for that
islands was not very large, and all the plantations there were fully manned before the beginning of 1908. (2) The floods in Canton and up the West River checked recruiting during the first months of the year.
(3) There was a considerable demand for labour on the several railways under con- struction in China, which restricted the recruiting area,
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
SUPREME COURT.
Monday, June 28th.
IN APPELLATE JURISDICTION.
BEFORE THE FULL COURT.
LEUNG SHUI KONG V. THE IMPERIAL
BANK OF CHINA.
Judgment on the appeal by Leung Shui Kong against the judgment delivered by His Honour the Chief Justice in this action was delivered by the Full Court yesterday.
Messrs. M. W. Slade and H. G. Calthrop appeared for the appellant. while Mr. Orr appeared on behalf of the Hon. Mr. H. E. Pollock, K... for the respondents.
The Chief Justice said the defendant in this action was sued as guarantor of one, Leung King Wo, an officer in the Imperial Bank of China, deceased. It was impossible to make a satisfactorily concise summary of the facts of the case, and it was hardly necessary, as the defendant had judgment on all points in the
1
[July 5, 19 9.
The Chief Justice-If a plaintiff out of the jurisdiction brings himself within the jurisdic tion he must be treated like any other plaintiff.
Sir Henry Berkeley accepted the undertaking given by Mr. Slader
THE HIP ON CO. APPEAL.
The decision of the Full Court was delivered on the appeal brought against the decision of the Chief Justice in the action in which the Hip On Exchange and Loan Co., Ld., and the Hongkong and Manila Yuen Shing Exchange and Trading Co., Ld., were appellants, Li Po Yung being respondent.
the case; reflection has indeed only strengthened it. I shall for the sake of brevity only refer
to
manager, Tam Taz Kong. The case of the one plaintiff, the Hip On, and to its other plaintiff company, the Yuen On, and of its manager, Ng Li Hing, is practically identical. I have called the transaction be- tween Kwok Yik Ting and his friends, among whom was Tam Tsz Kong, and Tam Taz Kong in his capacity as manager of the Hip On, the plaintif company, bogus, and will endeavour to put this into more definite the syndicate arrangements mere fudge. I shape, which will serve
The Hip On and Yuen Shing Companies were represented by Hon. Mr. H. E. Pollock, K.C., instructed by Mr. H. L. Dennys (of Messrs. Dennys and Bowley); Kwok Yik Ting was represented by Hon. Sir Henry Berkeley, K.C., who was instructed by Mr. R. D. Atkin- son (of Messrs. Deacon, Looker and Deacon); Li Po Yung was represented by Mesars. M. W. Slade and E. Potter, who were instructed by Mr. F. Paget Hett (of Messrs. Brutton and Hett). Li Po Kam was represented by Mr. H. G. Calthrop, who was instructed by Mr. C. D. Wilkinson (of Messrs. Wilkinson and Grist).
In the course of a lengthy judgment the year. The demand for labour in those action, except one, and it was in respect of this Chief Justice said: I shall not dwell on the facts of the case at any length, for I find that part of the judgment that he was appealing.my opinion of them has not varied since I heard Stated briefly, the point on which judgment went against the defendant was in respect of what were called the "King Kee "accounts. He, the Chief Justice, had held that they were Leung King Wo's private accounts with the Bank of Tientsin, which were overdrawn. He held further that the circumstances in which these accounts were kept amounted to an admission by Leung King Wo 18 to their, accuracy ; that it was proved as far as such an account could be proved, and that the defendant was liable for the overdraft Then came the question of law which depended on the change in the nature of the duties of Leung King Wo from manager at first to agent. Such a change in the nature of the duties of the person guaranteed would, in the absence of notice and assout, absolve the guarantor, but it had seemed to him that if there was running through both offices guaranteed one common ground of liability, the reason for this relief would cease to exist and the guarantor would continue liable. The question had assumed a consider able importance in the taking of the accounts consequent on the judgment, and it had become necessary for the defendants to challenge the principle on which he (the Chief Justice) had acted. He had intimated that in ordinary circumstances he should have had the point specially argued on the basis of his judgly ment on the other points, so that the question could be specially considered fræe from all other matters, but circumstances did not admit of it.
157,809 returning emigrants were reported as having been brought to Hongkong from the several places to which they had emigrated, either from this Colony or from Coast Ports. as against 145,822 in 1908. This includes 106 returning from South Africa. Of the total number 116,094 arrived in British ships and 41,715 in Foreign ships.
MR. WILLARD D. STRAIGHT.
The above-named gentleman, who, according to recent telegrams, will soon leave America for China in the interests of the American
Syndicate which is to participate in the develop. ment of Chinese Railways, is not without experience in the Far East. At the time of the
war.
outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, says the Shanghai Times, Mr. Straight was in the employ of the Imperial Maritime Customs and was sta. tioned at Peking. This position he resigned to become one of Reuter's correspondents, acting under Mr. R. M. Collins, Reuter's chief in the field. When Mr. Collins joined Kuroki onthe latter's famous Spring march to the Yalu, Mr. Straight remained in charge at Seoul. Later he was relieved by Mr. Hagerty of the Associated Press, for at that time Melville Stone and Baron de Reuter were collaborating in the covering" of the Mr. Straight next proceeded to Tokyo, where he acted under Martin Egan for a considerable time, and later was hurried back to China, reaching Sinmintun a few days previons to the battle of Mukden. He remained there during the Hunghutze outrages and left the day before Nogi's cavalry occupied the town, driving the Circassian mounted infantry Mukden wards. Mr. Straight next proceeded to Peking, where it may be said his experiences as a war correspondent ended, there being a general lack of assign ments. However, he had been so successful in the short time he had been engaged in news- paper work that he received the warmest recommendations from both Mr. Stone and Baron de Reuter, and there can be no doubt that the support of these two men greatly aided him in securing his appointment as U. S. Consul to Mukden, where he was temporarily relieved some time ago by Mr. F. Cloud, Vice- Consul at Shanghai. It is now expected that Mr. Straight's resignation from the Consular Service will result in the promotion of Mr. Cloud as Consul at Mukden.
The Ipoh paper says it is rumoured than an income-tax will be introduced in the Straits Settlements to replace the lost revenue from opium.
The Court was work-
ing treble tides, and he was compelled to give judgment against the defendant on this point without being able to devote as much consideration either to the facts or the law as he should have wished, and without calling on counsel for assistance. The argument on the appeal had practically taken the place of the further argument which, if the time of the Court had been less occupied, he should have required in the first instance. Now that he had heard the question of law argued he found it was covered absolutely by authority, and that the law as he had laid it down was wrong. The case must be governed by the authority of Honar v. Macdonald (3 H. L. cases, 226) for the facts were in principle identical. He was therefore of opinion that the judgment which was entered for the plaintiff on this part of his claim must be reversed with costs.
Mr. Justice Gompertz concurred. Sir Henry Berkeley applied for a stay of execution for three months.
Mr. Slade objected, as the plaintiffs were out of jurisdiction, and the defendants must use the utmost despatch and energy in order to get
their costs.
The Chief Justice (to Sir Henry Berkeley) You are a very rich and wealthy firm. Why do you want a stay?
Sir Henry Berkeley-To consider our position with a view to appeal.
Mr. Slade-We are prepared to give an undertaking to repay to them the costs if they are paid to us.
a18 B summary of my opinion of the case. Kwok and Tam thought they saw a "good thing," but it was a good thing which was not to be had without $60,00 between them and their friends; this was some payment. They thought they could raise
the extent to which they would go in cash, the mortgage would produce the rest for payment of the existing mortgages, for purchase of the property and to provide a building fund. The plan of itself leant strongly towards under- valuation, but, on the other hand, it had to deal with a sufficiently large fund to leave a liability on the mortgagor to the Hip On, which was not apparently beyond his means. That it was all worked out
very clever-
is shown from the fact that they brought the amount paid to within $10,000 of
what I call the true value. It is the usual case, so common in cases which come before this court, of an attempt to build mountains out of the materials of mole-hills, to make a little do the work of much, of what is popularly known as the " inverted pyramid." In this case the apex was 860,000 in cash, and it is true that it was sufficiently substantial to have kept the pyramid in unstable equilibrium for
some time, but the fact that this substantial sum formed the apex of the pyramid cannot invest the other main fact with a virtue it does not possess. And that fact is that Tam Tsz Kong, the member of the purchas. ing syndicate,
the was
manager of the Hip On, and directly the question of a “good thing," of not giving the proper value for the the own purposes cropped up, conflict of interest and duty arose and the burden of upholding the bona fides of the sale. was shifted on to him-that is to say, on him as manager of the Hip On. So I adhere to my view that the sale must be set aside.
syndicate's
Looking at the question on principle, the connection between setting aside a sale and compulsory redemption is very difficult to follow. The mortgage has two rights, a power of sale, or foreclosure; redemption is the relief which equity gives to stay the exercise of what would otherwise be an indefeasible common law right. It is to prevent the absolute forfeiture of the estate for breach of the condition, equity deeming it unreasonable that the mortgagor should retain for his own benefit what was intended for a mere security.
Why then should the mortgagor be compelled to redeem merely because the mortgagee has
{
•