It never was done?-If Mr. Howell had done as he ought to have done he should have taken the note from Tstem. That's what I should have done. It would have saved all this litiga- tion.
Take your memory back to the time when you were Howell's attorney-May, 1903, to October, 1909.
Do you remember asking Mr. Leonard, then acting as bailiff to the Supreme Court, to speak to a sanitary inspector with regard to a debt which he owed to the Hongkong Butchery ?- Yes.
What were you in the Court at that time ?-- Second bailiff.
This Sanitary inspector wont to the Butchery and was sent from there to the Court P-No, he came to see me.
Is it part of the duty of the bailiff of the Court to give notice of writs which are handed in to be issued from the Court and delay them so that a warning should reach the intended defendant P-Where wo had a personal friend concerned we assisted him. I have paid money out of my pocket in that way,
I understand that in this instance of the Hongkong Butchery the writ bad actually been made out and brought to the Court to be sealed?
YEA,
Are you the person who seals the writs when they issue?-Sometimes.
The ordinary routine is that Chinese litigants get a form from the offics and thon either take it away and fill it up themselves or ask instruc- tions us to filling it up -Yes,
Having filed it up it is handed to the officer of the Court to be sealed and served by the bailiff-Yes.
Do I understand you to say that in this case the writ was handed to you with instruc- tions to issue and you delayed issuing it while you communicated with the sanitary inspector named-The writ was not fully made out.
I suggest to you that you did what you did in that matter as attorney for Howell?-No, I did not.
You were attorney for Howell then P-Yes. His Lordship--You say you did not go into
the matter as Howell's attorney?—Yes.
J. Leonard, bailiff, spoke to having mention ed the debt in question to the sanitary inspector referred to.
Mr. Lowe was again reculled.
His Lordship-I cannot anderstand the ledger account which shows $3,200 outstanding at the end of January, but you hayo cash, the amount owing by customers, collected during February, March April and May, amounting to $3,600. We cannot understand that P-He has accounted for more than he needed to account. That is in his favour.
You must not discuss whether it is in his
favour or not. We cannot understand why there should have been such a result.-Unless I chocked it mys If I would not have believed it. His Lordship-I am afraid you must accept
that. The registrar has been at work to verify the figures taken out by Mr. Stade.
Mr. Slade-Guterriez only went through a few of them.
His Lordship--Mr. Slade worked through these figures. The registry has been through them, and except for some $50 or $60 they are correct. Now the ledger account shows $3,263, and you have brought out of the cash book $3,600.
Witness--Well, this money has been paid into the tank. He has accounted for more than he apparently needed.
His Lordship One thing about which I ant not clear and that is cash payments-meat sold for cash. Does that come in anywhere?
Witness-Cash sales.
Mr.
Slade--Assuming these figures are sorrect, two people have been through them---
Witness-It all depends on who does it.
His Lordship- We cannot get any further
It is a carious thing, What Mr. Lowe said was that the totals worked out.
Mr. Slade-We don't know how the other figuros were worked out. Mr. Howell and Mr. Guterriez worked them out. The difficulty is
this. Assuming the ledger does not show the whole of the amounts which were afterwards col- lected, there must have been some other record of certain castomers' bills not inserted in this ledger. which would account for a vory great deal of the difficulty which your Lordship pointed out.
His Lordship-It must be left at that.
Mr. Slade proceeded to alldress further ques tions to witness, who remarked that it was not right to ask any man for books after sixteen. years.
His Lordship-But a firm would koop its books?
Witness-No, the books would be destroyed. His Lordship-But when the books are forth- coming.
Witness-Then you must get the man who kept them to explain them.
{ Mr. Slade-How can you say, as you have done in your certificate, that the books are well and regularly kept when you have not checked some most important items ?
Witness-You are referring to items six months later.
Mr. Slade-You say in your certificate that the books are well and regularly kept and you hare not checked the ledgers to see whether or not the ledger accounts correspond with the amounts subsequently collected P
Witness-If you turn to Tatem's balanco sheet, which covers the whole of the period of eight months, you will have to account for $24,000.
You are not answering the question, I am challenging the sufficioney of the information on which you based your certificate of these accurately kept books-I have gone into the figures for the results that had to be accounted for. I told my lord that the cash receipts are
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