SIR,
C O.
Hongkong, utline
Referring to our correspondence with you on the subject of the fee charged for the licence to distil issued to the China Sugar Refining Company, Limited, we have now the honour to enclose, in triplicate, a letter, with enclosures, to the Right Honourable the Earl of KIMBERLEY, Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies, which we have to request that His Excellency the Governor will be good enough to transmit.
His Excellency will observe from the concluding paragraph of the letter that we purpose forwarding a fourth copy to the Secretary of State direct, by the outward Mail of 3rd proximo.
We have the honour to be,
(Signed)
Sir,
Your most obedient Servants,
JARDINE, MATHESON & Co.,
General Agents,
CHINA SUGAR REFINING COMPANY, LIMITED.
The Honourable
FREDERICK STEWART, LLD.,
Acting Colonial Secretary,
Hongkong, 28th October, 1880.
MY LORD,
We have the honour to lay before your Lordship the following circumstances, and the enclosed correspondence, relating to the granting of a licence by the Governor in Council to the China Sugar Refining Company, Limited, of which we are the General Agents, to carry on the distillation of spirits in premises, known as the Hongkong Distillery, recently acquired by the Company.
We deeply regret to trouble your Lordship with this matter, but our duty to the Company leaves us no choice but to appeal against an act of the Government which we deem to be arbitrary and oppressive.
Previously to the year 1869, the distillation of spirits within the Colony had been forbidden by law, but in that year the refining of sugar having recently found a place as an industry in the Colony, the Hongkong Distillery was built, and Ordinance No. 3 of 1869 was passed to enable it to be worked.
By section 3 of this Ordinance, it was made "lawful for the Governor in Council, from time to time, to grant licences for the Distillation, Rectifying and Compounding of Spirits within the Colony, to such persons, for such considerations and upon such conditions and for such periods as he should think fit.”
The erection of the Distillery was completed in the early part of 1870, and in February of that year a Joint Stock Company was formed to work it, to which Governor MacDONNELL in Council, under discretionary powers vested in him by the Ordinance, granted a licence for an annual fee of Dollars One hundred ($100), which fee has been invariably charged for all such licences until August in the present year. The form of licence issued by the Government has, for many years past, contained the words “One hundred dollars,” as amount of the fee, among its printed matter.
The Hongkong Distillery Company could not be made to pay its way, and, after repeated and heavy losses on its consignments it succumbed, and was wound up by the Court, within three years of its incorporation, with the loss of its entire capital of Dollars One hundred thousand ($100,000) and an additional amount of nearly Dollars Twelve thousand ($12,000).
The building and machinery then came into the hands of their mortgagees, a Mr. JACK and a Mr. LAMONT, who worked the establishment for their own account until the death of the former in August, 1878. Their operations resulted in very considerable losses.
After Mr. JACK's death, the manufactory remained in disuse until we bought it, except for about two months, during which we worked it in order to test its capabilities,
In 1875, the Sugar Refinery, which ultimately developed into the China Sugar Refining Company, Limited, commenced the distillation of spirits, in its own premises, under a licence, on which a fee of Dollars One hundred ($100) was then and has since been annually paid.
Page 254
暖
SIR,
C 0.
Hongkong, utline
Referring to our correspondence with you on the subject of the fee charged the the licence to distil issued to the China Sugar Refining Company, Limited, we have now the honour to enclose, in triplicate, a letter, with enclosures, to the Right Honourable the Earl of KIMBERLEY, Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Conies, which we have to request that His Excellency the Governor will be good enough to transmit.
His Excellency will observe from the concluding paragraph of the letter that we purpose forwarding fourth copy to the Secretary of State direct, by the outward Mail of 3rd proximo.
We have the honour to be,
(Signed)
Sir,
•
Your most obedient Servants,
JARDINE, MATHESON & Co.,
General Agents,
話
CHINA SUGAR REFINING COMPANY, IMITED.
The Honourable
FREDERICK STEWART, LLD.,
Acting Colonial Secretary, „
Hongkong, 28th October, 1880.
MY LORD,
We have the honour to lay before your Lordship the following circumstances, and the enclosed correspondence, relating to the granting of a licence by the Governor in Council to the China Sugar Refining Company, Limited, of which we are the General Agents, to carry on the distillation of spirits in premises, known as the Hongkong Distillery, recently acquired by the Company.
We deeply regret to trouble your Lordship with this matter, but our duty to the Company leaves us no choice but to appeal against an act of the Government which we deem to be arbitrary and oppressive.
Previously to the year 1869, the distillation of spirits within the Colony had been forbidden by law, but in that year the refining of sugar having recently found a place as an industry in the Colony, the Hongkong Distillery was built, and Ordinance No. 3 of 1869 was passed to enable it to be worked.
By section 3 of this Ordinance, it was made "lawful for the Governor in Council, from time to time, to "grant licences for the Distillation, Rectifying and Compounding of Spirits within the Colony, to such persons, "for such considerations and upon such conditions and for such periods as he should think fit.”
The erection of the Distillery was completed in the curly part of 1870, and in February of that year a Joint Stock Company was formed to work it, to which Governor MacDossaLL in Council, under discretionary powers vested in him by the Ordinance, granted a licence for an annual fee of Dollars One hundred ($100), which fee has been invariably charged for all such licences until August in the present year. The form of licence issued by the Government has, for many years past, contained the words “One hundred dollars,” as amount of the fee, among its printed matter.
being the
The Hongkong Distillery Company could not be made to pay its way, and, after repeated and heavy losses on its consignments it succumbed, and was wound up by the Court, within three years of its incorporation, with the loss of its entire capital of Dollars One hundred thousand ($100,000) and an additional amount of nearly Dollars Twelve thousand ($12,000).
The building and machinery then came into the hands of their mortgagees, a Mr. JACK and a Mr. LAMONT, who worked the establishment for their own account until the death of the former in August, 1878. Their operations resulted in very considerable losses.
After Mr. JACK's death, the manufactory remained in disuse until we bought it, except for about two months, during which we worked it in order to test its capabilities,
In 1875, the Sugar Refinery, which ultimately developed into the China Sugar Refining Company, Limited, Commenced the distillation of spirits, in its own premises, under a licence, on which a fee of Dollars One hundred ($100) was then and has since been annually paid.
254
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