CO129-438 - Public Offices - 1916 — Page 371

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Mr Newman;-

Where is Schratter?

I do not know.

No,

·

Are you now prepared to say where the arms came from?

because they are not mine. I simply was acting as agent for

someone else. Do you think you were employed as agent for someone else or have you been hoodwinked into being a sub-agent

for someone else? I think I was sub-agent: I was hoodwinked Are you prepared to say or not that the supposed principal was

a Chinese? The principal was not a Chinese.

Was Tls.50 a fair price for the rifles? I could not say.

Continuing, witness said that he did not know whether the rifles were still in Shanghai or not: There were other agents in the

matter besides himself. He last heard of the existence of the

rifles a month ago. Tsoo had not been his only agent during

the three months he had had to do with the transaction.

Mr Newman: How is it that you have not heard of the existence of these rifles for the last month if the party, who had them, wanted to get one third of the cash down before making the deal? That was exactly why I thought the rifles were not in existence. Is there nothing else to make you think that the rifles are not in existence? Nothing else.

Did you see your principal with regard to this matter upon the subpoena being served on you this morning? No.

Why did he try to get you to make a sale of these rifles if they did not exist? I do not know: I have given up hopes of these rifles being in existence.

Witness again admitted that it was probably true that T800 overheard the conversation between himself and Schratter.

That conversation was part of the transaction.

Mr Newman: