October 16, 1909.]
THE CANTON RAILWAY FUNDS CASE.
TRIAL AT CANTON.
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
chief engineer and the British chief accountant were agreed to, and contracts were entered into When the bonds were issued to the public at Home the question arose as to how they were to be dealt with, and it was settled that after keep
The trial of William Butler Wright, lateing a certain amount at Home to meet interest chief accountant of the Chinese section of the Canton-Kowloon Railway on charges of larceny of the sums of $13,000, $5,0 0 and $4,000, belonging to H. I. M. the Emperor of China, was commenced on the 13th inst. in the British Court, Shameen, His Honour Mr. Lindsay Smith, Assistant Judge of H.B.M.'s Supreme Court for China, presiding.
Mr. H. P. Wilkinson, Crown/dvocate, ap. peared for the prosecution, being instructed by Mr. H. W. Looker (of Messrs. Deacon, Looker and Deacon, Hongkong). Mr. J. C. E. Doug las (of Messrs, Home and Douglas, Shanghai) defended.
The following jurors were called:—J. C, H, L. Smith, R. T. Matheson, W. H. Hill, H. Dent, and C. H. Reid. None of the jurors were challenged.
Before the Crown Advocate opened his case, Mr. Douglas obtained permission from the Court for the accused to take a seat.
Mr. Wilkinson informed the Court and jurors that the indictment which had been read set out three separate misdemeanours which the Crown said the defendant committed. Stripped of legal language the charge was that Mr. Butler Wright, being entrusted with the care, as chief accountant of the railway, of certain monies, used on three differet occasions within the space of six months, part of those monies for his own use and benefit. The charge was that, having command of those monies as chief accountant of the railway, he transferred them to a private account of his own which he had as
$
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apparently, were not ready, but Mr. Butler Wright applied for sick leave., Now, if the accused had felt that he was overworked he might have taken the sub-accountant into his confidence and asked for his assistance in getting the accounts ready for audit. Either the accounts at the end of June were then ready for anyone to - 880 or
while the railway was under construction, and for the purchase of materials, the balance of the proceeds was to be remitted to they were not. They might not have the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank at Hong been ready for two reason; one, a criminal kong, there to be placed to a special account reason, and one, an innocent reason. The sub- called the Kowloon-Canton railway construction accountant would be called and would state that account. When the funds were placed to that the first he knew of the chief accountant going special account they were available to and could away was from
The an outside, source. be drawn on by the office of the railway in accused applied for leave, and went away before Carton. The work in connection with the it was formally granted on a doctor's certificate railway was being done in Canton, so it became that he was suffering from overwork. There necessary to make some arrangement for was not any specific disease, and no immediate transferring from time to time and as necessity breakdown, and if he had wished to assist the arose sums from the Hongkong construc- railway in making up the accounts he might at tion account to some local accounts, where the least have postponed his departure until he got money could be dealt with in payment his leave under agreement. On defen- of land necessary for the railway, wages and dant's departure. Mr. Grove's uneasiness salaries, and in payment of work done for the regarding the accounts became a suspicion, and should pay accounts, which were certified by the railway. The idea was that the chief accountant eventually proceedings were taken and the defendant arrested. There would be evidence chief engineer, saving, of course, such accounts on the question of intention to show that Mr as were immediately in his own department, and Butler Wright made disposition of certain parts that no payments should be made except for of his property before he went away. railway purposes. Moreover, the idea was that Crown Advocate stated that he now came to payments could not be made unless there was
the three actual payments out of the something to show why they were made. railway accounts into the accused's private When it became necessary to have money in account, and for which Mr. Butler Wright Canton
stood charged. Accused's private account was kept in the International Bank, and in that bank there were three accounts with which he had something to do. There were two sub-divisions of the railway account-the Hongkong and Canton currency accounts on which he could operate by signing his name as chief accountant of the railway.
or for con.
temporary arrangement was made and an account opened at the International Bank at Canton, but that account was closed, and had nothing whatever to do with the case. When that account was closed, after consultation it was decided that monely transferred from time to time from the Hong- kong construction account should be put into ocal accounts at the Canton branch of the International Bank. As Canton dollars were not the same as Hongkong dollars, and as some of the payments at Canton would be for salaries, and as some other payments would be for work and labour done, tracts made locally, the account in Canton was divided into a Hongkong, currency account and a Canton currency. account. There was therefore a large account in Hongkong composed entirely of the proceeds of the loan devoted to construction. From that account soms were transferred to a local account at the International Bank, Canton. The direc tor-general in Canton, His Excellency Wei Han, could not always be at the office, and it was arranged that the two Canton accounts were to be operated on by Mr. Butler Wright. That was, a cheque was drawn by him, but not by him as Mr. Butler Wright, but as chief accountant of the railway. These accounts were opened merely for convenience of payment. The accounts were kept, and seemed to have been properly kept, up to about the end of September, 1908. An account with which the jurors would be more particularly concerned was an account known as "A 07," which was intended to show all the sums payable by the chief accountant, on the authority of the chief engineer, and the other account was one furnished from time to time by the chief accountant to His Excellency Wei Han for transmission to the Board of Revenue and other Boards at Peking. When the account "A 07" was first bogan | it was kept very well. It only showed the amounts expended, and it also showed the numbers and amounts of cheques making up the monthly total.
private individual, and that by SO doing he converted that money to his own use; In this case the Crown would, on the question of intention, and so as to make any defence which might be raised that these trans- fer's were accidental or innocent, show that those transfers were made for the purpose of meeting certain payments which he intended to make on his own private account. As the charge was framed it was a charge of a form of larceny created by a statute of the present King; the first year of Edward VII. ́It did not create any new offence, so to speak, but created technicalities, and decisions which had OC- curred in doubtful cases made it very difficult to state whether a person who dealt with money not his own was embezzling it or was simply stealing it. The Crown submitted in this case that this was the proper statute under which to proceed, but if the facts before the jury proved some other offence he would submit to His Lordship that under an Order-in-Council the accused could be found guilty of that offence. The case was a perfectly clear one. Mr. Butler Wright had control of monies of the railway, and on three separate occasions he [transferred part of those monies for his own use and benefit. Dealing with the history of the case, the Crown Advocate said that the Canton-Kowloon Railway was an Imperial Government concern, and was to be built with the proceeds of a loan. The British and Chinese Corporation entered into an agreement with the Waiwupu under sanction of Imperial rescript by which they were empowered to raise money at Home by the flotation of Chinese Government bonds. One particular point about the agree- ment was that the proceeds of this loan | It appeared that, from September, 198, that ac- were to be used for the construction of the railway. It was provided that there should be a Fritish chief engineer and a British chief accountant, and it was also provided that there should be a representative of the Imperial Government. Of course the local representative of the Imperial Govern- ment was the Viceroy, but it was arranged that the Viceroy should appoint as director-general a Chinese official, and that this official should have associated with him the British chief engineer and the British chief accountant, The Central Government of China agreed to the wish to have an Imperial railway. that the funds for it should be raised in & certain way. and that the use of those funds should be guided, he might say checked, by the British chief accountant. The next point was that the payments of the British
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Mr. Douglas I think it would assist every- body and avoid confusion if the accounts were called one, two and three, International Bank, and not called, railway accounts at all If not, he would trouble the Crown Advocate to call them each time by their full names.
The Crown Advocate-It is part of my friend's defence that they are all Butler Wright's accounts, but we intend to prove that two are railway accounts, and one is Butler Wright's private account.
Elis Lordship-I think the Crown Advocate had better call them what he likes just now.
Mr. Douglas-I don't want him to call them names they have not got. There is an account called the construction account.“
The Crown Advocate In Hongkong. His Lordship-Tell me what you propose to call them
The Crown Advocate-One is, W. Butler Wright, Esq., Chief Accountant, Canton-Kow- loon Railway, Hongkong currency account. The other is, W. Butler Wright, Esq, Chief Accountant, Canton-Kowloon Railway, local small currency account. Now what I propose to do is to call those two accounts the focal railway accounts, Hongkong currency and Canton currency. Further, there is the original account, which is 'entirely kept in Hongkong. and called the construction account, which is fed by the proceeds of the loan from Home.
Continuing, the Crown Advocate said there were in the bank at Canton the two accounts which had to do with the railway, and a third account which was Mr. Butler Wright's private account. The three particular transactions which formed the basis of this indictment were the payments from the local railway Hongkong count got into error and it was impossible to find currency account to Mr. Butler Wright's private out from it what the detailed cheques were in account of $5,000 on the 14th September, making out the total of the monthly payments. $13,000 on 30th December, and $4,000 on 4th Early this year Mr. Grove, the chief engineer, February. Evidence would be called to prove naturally wished to know what relation the total that the payments out of the chief accountant's expenditure on construction of the railway account in the International Bank were made hore to the total amount obtained on cheques drawn on him in the usual way from
tho issue of the loan at ng chief accountant of the railway. Then Home transmitted to Hongkong, so the idea of these amounts were paid into the credit an audit was in the air. Some time in June this of his private account. Just before these question arose between the chief engineer and payments in to Mr. Butler Wright's private the chief accountant, and the official demand for account, the jurors would hear what the an audit was made on August 6th, 1909. Mr. credit of that private account was.
Then it Butler Wright then wrote and stated that would be proved that shortly after these pay. owing to some arrears on the part of the ments in, payments out were made to persons district engineers he had not got his accounts entirely unconnected with the railway, and the ready for audit
up to
June, but that payments were enabled to be met by these he would have them ready on the last day of transfers of monies from the railway to
August. On September 1st those accounts, his own account. A man might make
a