CO129-508-5 Supreme Court of Hong Kong- slackness of registry accounting methods 28-10-1927 - 23-4-1928 — Page 2

1.

Go Senet

8/12/272

(Foch refert on condition

of the

Gecamby.

maml

This immense despatch is/concerned with

the chaotic condition of the accounts of the

Supreme Court Registry. There appear to have

been numerous irregularities due to pressure

of work, combined with lack of supervision by

the Registrar and Deputy Registrar.

these have been remarked upon by the Auditorg

they only attracted considerable notice when

they led to considerable Government loss in the

particular case of the S.S."Ling Nam".

Some

While

the

The "Ling Nam" was seized in 1925 at the

suit of a local creditor, and after the seizures

other judgments were obtained against the ship

by a large number of other creditors,

total amount involved being the gum of $170,000.

The ship was valued at $270,000 but owing to the

strike and boycott, it was impossible to sell

it immediately, and it was therefore necessary to

At first the maintenance

Brokering

maintain

charges were defrayed in the proper way by two

of the principal creditors. After a few weeks,

however, this system was altered and charges

were defrayed by the Auctioneer and Broker

Company who were auctioneers to the Court and

expected to be reimbursed when the ship was sold.

Their motive in advancing money for the maintenance

is not very clear, but apparently a subsidiary

business of theirs benefited by supplying

groceries etc., and there might have been other

pickings.

Apparently, however, as the time

went