The "Ava" was carrying mails to Shanghai, but was so much injured that she had to put into the port of Amoy for repairs. Temporary repairs were there executed, sufficient at any rate to allow her to proceed to Shanghai, where legal proceedings might, had the owners of the "Roma" so elected, have been instituted against her in the Consular Court. This course, however, they declined to adopt, and they determined to arrest the "Ava" here on her return journey and to make the Nice Admiralty Court here try their case.
As soon as this decision became known to M. Conil, the principal Agent for the Messageries Maritimes here, he retained my services as Counsel for the "Ava" and telegraphed to his directors in France for instructions as to the course to be adopted. Their reply advised him not to consent to the jurisdiction of the Admiralty Court in Hong Kong, unless he was compelled to do so, but to leave the matter, if possible, to be tried in France.
My opinion was taken upon the point, and I advised M. Conil that although the "Ava"