CO129-436 - Acting Governor Claud Sever & Governor Sir May & Public Offices - 1916 [11-12] — Page 309

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-ing and jewelry, each article being exactly described. At the enquiry the plaintiff, an ignorant seafaring mm, admitted that there was no jewelry on board and no clothing worth claiming for. The amount recovered was less thm the amount paid into Court by the defendant and it was considerably less than what the defend- -ant had offered at an earlier stage. In the result the plaintiff was out of pocket where he might have recovered a substantial sum but for the greed of the persons into whose hands he had fallen.

6.

In 1909, by means of conspiracy which in- -volved the forgery of a Crown Lease and of the records of the Land Office, a Solicitor who advanced money on & mortgage of the lot to which the forged Crow Lease purported to rela te was de- -frauded of the sun of $24,000. It is believed that a clerk in the

Land Office was concemed with a Solicitor's interpreter in this conspiracy.

7.

In 1913 a certain official was executed by the Chinese Authorities. He had had a deposit of £10,000 in a

Hongkong bank. A solicitor's interpreter came to hear of the death

and the deposit. Promissory notes representing the sum of £13,000 were prepared, an action on the notes was commenced, the writ was

served on a man who was put up to personate the deceased, judg ment was recovered by default, a garnishee order was obtained against the bank, and the 10,000 was paid to the conspirators.

The share of the interpreter was said to be $7,000.

8.

An action has just been concluded in which an

attempt was made to establish a claim to a half share in certain

Chinese business. The value of the half share would have been

well over $1,000,000. The claim was supported by evidence which

the Court definitely and conclusively rejected and by an alleged declaration of trust which the Court found to be a forgery. Need-

-less to say the case was well prepared, and it required a hearing of 40 days before the unfortunate defendants, who will not

recover a cent of their costs, suoceeded in repelling this

entirely

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