470
"%
influence over the case.
( 36 )
1
ody.
( 37 )
From the Central Police Station the books, &c.,
The Acting Colonial Secretary the memoranda as referred to the second charge, whic and in the house, were taken to the Police Court, under
up,
ut am not certain, that when so sent they were sealed
I do not know any- by whom I do not know. thing at when or
as their transmission up to the Government Offices refer they were sent to the Magistracy. To the best of my knowledge all the books, &c., found in the house, were sent from the Station to the Police Court, to be transmitted to Government Offices.
[The Commission then proceeded to take secondary evi- ince tendered by Mr May, of the contents of these memo- anda to the best of his recollection, reserving for after consideration the question of the admissibility of such evidence.]
replied, that he did not see that we could legally hold the was, that the books and papers would shew the purchases shops and that he did not see the utility of it. I sidech inmense quantities-thousands of dollars' worth
harge of Jarman, and they were still in his charge when should like to recall to his recollection a similar case, in munitions of war, including gunpowder, shot, guns, musker
xamined by Mr Stace, Mr Caldwell, and an interpreter, and which an influential man had been in custody on a charge shields, stinkpots, &c., as could by no possibility have beagistracy for transmission to the Government.
emained so I believe until the time they were sent to the I believe, of confederation with pirates, when he was Acting Attorney employed for any purpose but that of piracy, and His Exce General, and in which he had insisted that the Police should lency was evidently staggered, as were also the menberg retain possession of the shop. In consequence, it was arranged the Council, as I proceeded reading the different items. that one shop, which was considered more as the family Excellency, did not refer to any more charges. I residence of the prisoner, should be given up, but that the ome other extracts from other portions of the memorand remainder of his premises should remain in the hands of the and I could not help observing that the reading of thes -Police. I was Acting Assistant Magistrate at this time. hemoranda produced a considerable effect on the Counci My belief is, that Dr Bridges interested himself because of the Acting Colonial Secretary said he did not know of the the movement of Mr Caldwell in the matter. After the pri-existence of the memoranda till that time, and His Exce soner, Ma-chow Wong, was committed for trial, application ency the Governor was very angry, that papers of such im was made that he should be admitted to bail. The Com-portance had not come to his knowledge before. His Ex- mitting Magistrate refused to accede to the application, andelleucy said that he had relied very much on a report as ti an application was then made to the Judge in Chambers, for the examination of the books furnished him by Mr Mongan the admission of the prisoner to bail. The prisoner was which report clearly stated that the books and paper bailed, and I saw Mr Caldwell come with the bail to the shewed only such purchases of munitions of war as any Police Court, I think at the time it was accepted by the respectable trader might have dealt in. Mr Mongan wa Chief Magistrate.
desired to attend at the Council, and did so, and in reply After the trial and conviction, the memoranda remained to the Governor's questions said that he had not made a very in my possession. I heard that appeals had been made to close examination of the books, that he had been assisted in His Excellency the Governor in Council to pardon the pri- the examination by Mr Caldwell, and that he had had no soners. I firmly believed that the existence of the me-data and no particular information, and that he had made his moranda was then known to the Acting Colonial Secretary report from his cursory examination. The Council broke because the existence was known by the Chief Magistrate up, and in the Council room I handed to the Acting Colonial and Acting Attorney General, to whom I knew the Acting Secretary the papers containing the memoranda, saying Colonial Secretary had spoken on the subject of the pri-when I did so, I leave these in your hands. I have not soner's pardon. I did not make a direct communication to been the memoranda since. With regard to the original
the Government on the subject of those memoranda. Ibooks and papers I know, that in obedience to an order from thought it certain that a communication would be made the Acting Colonial Secretary, all the papers and books to me by the Acting Colonial Secretary on the subject of the of consequence, including those from which the memoranda prisoner's pardon, when of necessity the memoranda would had been taken, were sent up to the Government Offices; have been exhibited. No such communication was made to but whether to the Acting Colonial Secretary's office, or· me until the appearance of an article in the China Mail to the Chinese Secretary's office, I do not know. To the best newspaper, which article adverted to the existence of the in-of my knowledge they passed from the hands of the Police formation contained in these memoranda. I was summoned to the Chief Clerk in the Magistracy, and from him to the to attend a meeting of the Executive Council, and found that Government Offices. My impression at the time was, that Mr Dixson, Mr Lane, and some other civilian, had also been these memoranda did not contain evidence of matters: summoned to the Council. When I was called into the which formed the subject of either of the two pending Council room, His Excellency the Governor said he had inquiries, or which could have been adduced in evidence noticed certain statements in the China Mail, and asked me on the trial on either of the indictments before the Supreme if I had in any way authorised those statements. His Ex-Court. I believe that all the books, papers, and writ- cellency the. Governor said he would take the statement as pngs, seized in the house and shop of Ma-chow Wong, they appeared seríatim, and reading the first charge asked were taken possession of by Inspector Jarman, because the me if I had authorised that. I do not now know what warrant was directed to him. Those found in the Kwong-yik the first charge was. I said "No, I had not authorised Loong shop related exclusively to the two cases under investi- it; " the Governor then read the second, and to the same gation, those found in the house are those from which alone query I answered in the affirmative. His Excellency asked the memoranda werextracted, and these were taken from what proof I had, and I then produced the memoranda re- the house to the Central Station in an iron chest, of which Mr ferred to. It was apparent to me, that His Excellency up to Jarman had the key. They remained to the best of my that time had not known of the existence of the memoranda. knowledge in his custody, until examined by Tong Akt in With the permission of the Council I read such portions of my presence, after which they still remained in Jarman's cus
A
No. 1.-There were about 15 items, with dates of purchases of guns, gunpowder, stinkpots, shot, and muskets. I cannot say within what years. There were some single payments of as much as 50 taels for powder and 600 taels for cannons. The books bore on them the seal, and some the name, of Ma-chow Wong.
No. 2.-One item of delivery of a large quantity of saltpetre
or sulphur, to a man--a manufacturer of gunpowder- at Shek-tong-tsui, a village beyond West Point. No. 3.-There were about a dozen entries of payments of
very considerable quantities of cash-called "ancient" cash, as much as 200,000 or 300,000 cash each entry, paid for articles of consumption.
No. 4.-Three or four covers of books, the leaves being torn out, and on the back of the books was written "Monthly payments from such and such a gambling house to Ma-chow Wong."
No. 5.-There were two or three entries of payments made to Ma-chow Wong, for and on account of the Sunon people.
No. 6. Was a book shewing an account of monies received by Ma-chow Wong, a lessee of the village of Cheem-sha- tsui, on the opposite shore, and an entry of a payment of so many dollars to Kowloong Police runners, on some business connected with Cheem-sha-tsui.
No. 7.-A page of a book, an account of receipts either for or from Mr Caldwell, amounting altogether in different amounts to more than 600 taels. It did not say in respect of what.
No. 8.-A paper which was written to this effect, "An agreement between some man in the lower bazaar, Ma- chow Wong, and Mr Caldwell, that if the lower Bazaar man was successful in an ejectment case, the pro- perty was to be sold to Mr Caldwell for a certain sum of money, I think #1000-of which certain sum $500 were to be allowed as expenses of the suit, the remainder of the purchase-money going to the vendor."
No. 9.-There were some papers in English in Mr Cald- well's hand-writing, receipts for wages paid to a man named Beaver, for his services on board a lorcha: some of them said "received from Mr Caldwell" and some "from Wong Akee." Other receipts for sums paid to other Europeans for similar services; one was to the best of my recollection for a sum paid to Graham. There was one paper directed to a European shipwright of "Please deliver the Hongkong-I think Mr Ross. bearer some spars, and place the same to my ac- These were dated count," signed by Mr Caldwell, 1856 or 1857.
No. 10.-A letter from the Commandant at Kowloong to Wong Akee's partner-a Chinese name-thanking him for his services with reference to certain property which had been taken from Kowloong when the mili- tary went over there, and had been restored, and requesting this man to thank Mr Caldwell for his services.
No. 11.-A cover of a letter from a man who was known as a pirate-I forget his name-who, in 1856, escaped from the Police through the aid of Ma-chow Wong from Ma-chow Wong's house, and who was at the time of writing the letter in the service of Chan Kwei-tsik, The cover said "from so and so, at such a place, to Wong Akee."
I do not know whether the cover stated that he was in Chan Kwei-tsik's service, or whether the in- terpreter inferred this from the locality whence it came, or other circumstances.
No. 12.-There was a money account between Ma-chow Wong and some one at Singapore, relative to what in my memo. was described as the "slave trade," the buy- ing of persons and reselling of them at Singapore. No. 13. There were about ten entries of payment to lawyers, most of them mentioning Mr Stace's name, but not in respect of what business.
No. 14. An entry of a receipt of money--it was a money account, and therefore I conclude a receipt-of a sum of money for service rendered by Wong Akee in obtaining the assistance of an English man-of-war, to recover a vessel from pirates.
No. 15. There must have been also an entry shewing him to have been connected in some measure with the robbery of silk from Messrs Gibb, Livingston & Co.'s godowns, but what the entry was I do not recollect. No. 16.-A paper shewing the number of guns fired at
different places.
No. 17.-A memo. shewing the division of some money as shares in a Chinese boat transaction. There were twelve shares.
No. 18.-There was some paper, but I cannot recollect what it exactly was, shewing Ma-chow Wong's connec- tion with the Sunon Wo, a house belonging to the people of the Sunon district, and under the manage- ment of Ma-chow Wong.