5.
Court
The final decision of the Supreme
on this soint has excited general
surprize among
the Commercial
Community, and I understand it
is not in accordance with the Opinions
of either brauch
F
Of
in the Colony
کیا
the legal profesion
I have the honor to enclose for
your information Copies of the proceedings
at the trial, of the arguments on the
points reserved and
F
the judgments
of Mr Snowden and Mr Rupell
I have the honor to be,
Sir,
Your Most Obedient Fumble Servant,
Most Commen
The Daily Press.
HONGKONG, OCTOBER 26TH, 1878.
SUPREME COURT.
October 25th.
CRIMINAL SESSIONS.
BEFORE THE ACTING CHIEF JUSTICE HON. F. SNOWDEN, AND A SPECIAL. JURY.
THE CHARGE AGAINST THE OFFICIAL ASSIGNDE.
Frederick Sowley Huffam, Deputy Registrar of the Supreme Court, was arraigned on the following indictment :-
1-That you, Frederick Sowley Huffam, being then employed in the public service of our Lady the Queen in this Colony, and entrusted, by vir- tne of such employment, with the receipt and custody of money, did by virtue of said ouploy- ment and whilst you were so employed as afore. said, receive and have in your possession and were entrusted with certain money, to wit to the amount of $50,000, and the said money then fraudulently did apply to your own use and benefit; and so the Attorney General doth charge you, the said Froderick Sowley Euffun, in man- ner and form aforesaid the said money from our | Lady the Queen feloniously did steal, take, and carry away at Victoria in this Colony on the 17th day of August, 1878.
2-The you, the said Frederick Sowley Hut- fam, then being official ussignee of certain estates in bankruptcy, and as such official assignee trustee of certain property, that is to say of cer tain moneys, to wit to the amount of $50,000 for a certain public purpose, that is to say for the purpose (amongst other things) of distributing the same amongst the creditors of such estates respectively, did unlawfully and wilfully convert and appropriate the said property to and for your owo use and benefit with intent thereby then to defraud, at Victoria aforesaid on the 17th day of August, 1878.
3-That you, the said Frederick Sowley Haffam, then being the official assignee of the 'insolvent estate of Lyall, Still, and others, there. tofore carrying on business in this Colony ander the style or firm of Messrs. Lyall, Still & Co.. and as such official assignee then being trustee of certain property that is to say of certain moneys, to wit to the amount of $16,849.79 for the benefit of the creditors of the said insolvent estate, did un- lawfully and wilfully convert and appropriate the said property to and for your own use and benefit with intent thereby then to defraud, at Victoria ! aforesaid on the 17th day of Angust, 1878.
4.-That you, the said Frederick Sowley Huffan, then being the official assignee of the insolvent estate of Lyall and others, theretofore carrying on business in this Colony under the style or firm of Messrs. Lyall, Still & Co. and as such official assignee then being trustee of cer- tain property, that is to say of certain moneys to wit to the amount of $20,400 for the benefit of the creditors of the said insolvent estate did un- lawfully and wilfully convert and appropriate the said property to and for your own uso and benefit, with interest thereby then to defraud, at Victorin aforesaid on the 17th day of August, 1.878.
5.-That you, the said Frederick Sowley Huf- fam, then being the official assignee of the insolvent estate of Lyall and others, theretofore carrying on business in this Colony under the style or firm of Messrs. Lyall, Still & Co., and as such official assignee then being trustee of certain property, that is to say of certain moneys, to wit to the amount of $4,881.16, for the benefit of the said insolvent estate, did unlawfully and wilfully convert and appropriate the said property to and for your own use and benefit with intent thereby then to defraud, at Vitoria aforesaid on the 17th day of August, 1878.
The Attorney-General (Hou. G. Phillippo), instructed by the Crown Solicitor (Mr. E. Sharp), prosecuted; and Mr. Francis, instructed by Mr. Dennys, appeared for the defence. The jurors were Messrs. W. Wilson, A. Gültzow, C. D. Bot- tomley, A. McG. Heaton, W. H. Forbes, J. A. dos Remedios, and J. B. Coughtrio.
The Attorney-General, in opening the case, said-May it please your Lordship, gentlenen of the jury, the prisoner at the bar stands charged on the several counts in the information which
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you have heard read. On the first count he is charged under Ordinance 7 of 1865, section 57, and that section provides that "Whosoever, being employed in the public service of Her Majesty in this Colony, or being a constable or other person employed in the Police Force, and entrusted by virtue of suck employment with the receipt, custody, management, or control of any chattel. money, or valuable security which shall be intrusted to or received or taken into posses. sion by him by virtue of his employment, or any part thereof, or in any manner frandulently ap ply or dispose of the same or any part thereof to his own use or benefit, or for any purpose whatsoever except for the public service, shall be deemed to have feloniously stolen the same from Her Majesty." Now the information is almost in the words of that section of the Ordinance. It charges air. Huffam for that he, "being then employed in the public service of our Lady the Queen in this Colony, and entrasted, by virtue of such employment, with the receipt and cus- tody of money, did by virtue of said employment and whilst he was so employed as aforesaid re- ceive and have in his possession and was on- trusted with certain money, to wit to the amount of $50,000, and the said money then fraudulently did apply to his own use and benefit." "he se- cond count is framed under Ordinance 7 of 1865, section 65, which provides that "Whosoever, being a trustee of any property for the use or benefit, either wholly or partially, of some other person, or for any public or charitable purposE, shall, with intent to defraud, convert or appro- priate the same or any part thereof to or for his own use or benefit, or the use or benefit of any person other than such person as aforesaid, or for any purpose other than such public or charit- able purpose as aforesaid, or otherwise dispose of or destroy such property or any part thereof, shall be guilty of a misdemeanour." Now this second count of the indictment charges Mr. Buffam "That he then being official assignee of certain estates in bankruptcy, and as sneu official assignes trustes of certain property, that is to say of certain moneys, to wit to the amount of $50,000, for a certain public purpose, that is to say for the purpose (amongst other things)TM| of distributing the same amongst the creditors of such estates respectively, did unlawfully and wilfully couvert and appropriate the said property to and for his own use and benefit with intent thereby then to dofraud." The third count is framed upon the same section of the Ordinance, but it does not charge that the money was received for a públic purpose, but that it was received on account of a certain estate, and that count is limited to the estate of George Lyall and others. It is "That he then being the official assignee of the insolvent estate of Lyall, Still, and others, theretofore carrying on business in this Colony under the style or firm of Messrs. Lyall, Still & Co., and as such official assigues then being trustee of certain property, that is to say of certain moneys, to wit to the amount of $46,849.79, for the bene- fit of the creditors of the said insolvent estate, did unlawfully and wilfully convert and appro- priate the said property to and for his own use and benefit with intent thereby then to defraud," The next two counts are exactly similar to the third. with this exception. that the amounts charged to have been misappropriatedare smaller. In the fourth count the amount is 820,400, and in the fifth count it is $4,831.16 that he is charged with having misappropriatod. These two counts, I may state, were put in more for the information of the parties. They all, as I con- tend, come within the third count, and any proof of the misappropriation of the $20,000 or $4,000, would support the third count of the information.
His Lordship-Are these sums included in the third count?
The Attorney-General-These sums are in. cluded in the $46,000. Now the facts, which are no doubt extremely painful from the position of the party charged, are simply as follow:--- Under the Bankruptcy Ordinance, No. 5 of 1864, section 6, the Registrar of the Supreme Court is made the Official Assignee.
Mr. Francis--Perhaps your Lordship will be so good as to allow the prisoner to have a seat as probably the proceedings will be very long.
His Lordship-Yes; I see no objection to that. Let a seat be provided.
The Attorney-General-Under Ordinance 5 of 1864, section 6, it is provided that the Regis trar of the Supreme Court shall be the Official Assignee, and the Registrar was therefore in all cases up to the passing of a subsequent Ordinance ex-officio assignee of bankrupta'
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