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3
[1st witness Lam Chu.]
5. An Official notification was also sent to the Portuguese Consul in view of the fact that certain of the survivors were inhabitants of the Portuguese Colony of Macao and a formal acknowledgment has been received. I am informed that the Portuguese Consul is here to-day but that he does not desire to take any active part in the proceedings.
6. In addition, a formal notice pursuant to sec. 3 (3) of the Commissioners Powers Ordinance, 1886, stating the time and place of hearing has been published in the Government Gazette and in the local press and copies of the notice have been sent "' and to Messrs. Butterfield & Swire, who are the agents for the s.s. Kaying Messrs. Melchers, who are the local agents for the Norddeutscher Lloyd, the owners of the s.s. "Scharnhorst " but as far as I am aware there is no one present who desires to take any active part in this inquiry.
7. The Chairman: If the Portuguese Consul would care to come to Counsels' Table where it will be easier to hear everything that transpires and have an opportunity of taking any notes he desires, the Commission will be very happy.
8. The Portuguese Consul moves to Counsels' Table after thanking the Commis-
sioners.
9. Chairman: Mr. Whyatt, will you shortly outline the course which you propose to take with regard to the various witnesses who will have to appear before us? 10. Mr. Whyatt: I have been asked to appear before the Commission during this inquiry for the purpose of assisting you as far as I am able, in the task which has been entrusted to you under your terms of reference by His Excellency the Officer Administering the Government of the Colony of Hong Kong. It will be necessary in order that the true facts relating to the sinking of these fishing junks may be established that you should have before you witnesses who can give sworn evidence of the material circumstances and the object of my presence at this inquiry is to call before the Commission all the witnesses who are available whose evidence can be of assistance to the Commission in arriving at its conclu- sions. I desire to say that in calling this evidence I shall observe strictly the ordinary rules of evidence, and in no circumstances will any evidence be tendered or any questions be asked which would not be admissible in proceedings con- ducted in accordance with the practice which prevails in a British Court of Justice. 11. I do not propose before calling the witnesses to make any comments or to outline in detail the evidence which they will give, because I think it is desirable in an inquiry of this kind that the material to be placed before the Commission for its consideration should be limited strictly to the oral testimony of the witnesses themselves. It will be sufficient, I think, for your purposes, if I indicate to you as briefly as possible the various classes of witnesses who will be called and the nature of the evidence they will give concerning the matters relevant to this inquiry.
12. In the first place I shall call before you a number of eye-witnesses who were present on board the fishing junks that we are concerned with, who will describe to you the circumstances in which these vessels were sunk. Altogether ten fishing junks were sunk and although many lives were lost, there was fortunately a considerable number of survivors, and of these fourteen are at present in this Colony and will be called to give evidence. Their evidence will be supplemented to some extent by an officer from the British Steamship "Kaying" which picked up some of the survivors. Other survivors were picked up by the German liner "Scharnhorst" but as she has already sailed for Europe and will not call at the port of Hong Kong again until she returns to the Far East in two months' time, I regret to say it will not be possible to call witnesses from the "Scharn- horst "at this enquiry to tell you what they know concerning this matter. 13. In addition to the evidence of eye-witnesses, I shall call medical evidence from The witnesses from the Queen Mary Hospital and the Kwong Wah Hospital. these hospitals will be doctors who attended to those survivors who required medical attention when they arrived in Hong Kong, and they will describe to you what they found when they examined these men after their admission to hospital. These witnesses, in addition to giving oral evidence, will produce as exhibits a
splinter of metal and a copper bullet which have been removed from the bodies of two of the survivors and also an X-ray photograph which was taken before an operation was performed on one of these men.
14. I shall also call evidence from the Royal Observatory at Hong Kong as to the weather conditions that prevailed on the relevant dates in the vicinity of the place where the junks were sunk. And lastly shall call a naval officer who will give evidence as an expert on the question of the distinguishing marks which are carried by certain naval craft with which he is familiar.
15. I think perhaps I have now said sufficient in this brief summary to indicate to you the nature of the evidence I intend to put before you and with your leave I will now proceed to call the witnesses.
16. First Witness. Lam Chu, duly declared, states:—
17. Mr. Whyatt to Chairman : Will it be convenient for the members of the Com-
mission to have copies of the Admiralty chart?
18. Chairman: I think it will be very material, if we may have them now.
19. Copies of Admiralty chart No. 1962, Hong Kong to the Brothers, handed in. 20. Mr. Whyall to witness:
21. Your name is Lam Chu? I am Lam Chu.
22. How old are you? I am 42 years old.
23. Where were you born? I was born at Yaumati.
24. What have you done all your live for a living? I have been travelling aboard a
fishing junk for all my life.
25. In September of this year were you the owner of a fishing junk? Yes. 26. What was the number of that junk? No. 36.
27. Where was it licensed? Licensed both at Cheung Chau and Shaukiwan.
28. How long had you owned that junk? Several years.
29. Can you give us some idea of its value? Worth about $9,000.
30. You remember sailing in your fishing junk for the purpose of going on a fishing
expedition in September this year? Yes.
31. Where did you sail from? From Shaukiwan.
32. Can you give me the date? On the 17th September, 1937.
33. Did you sail alone or were you accompanied by any junks? By other fishing
junks.
34. Can you tell me the name of the master of one of the fishing junks that sailed
with you? Fung Kam-shing.
35. Have you got a brother who owns a fishing junk? Lam Shu-po, my brother,
also owned a fishing junk.
36. Did he sail with you from Shaukiwan on 17th September? Yes, he went with my
junk at the same time.
37. Where did you sail to from Shaukiwan? To somewhere near San Mei.
38. Chairman to Mr. Whyatt: Does he mean his brother was in his junk or on his
own junk?
39. Mr. Whyall: I will try to clear up that point, Sir.
40. To witness: You told us that Lam Shu-po owns a junk? Yes.
41. You told us that when you sailed from Shaukiwan on your junk on 17th September your brother also sailed from Shaukiwan? Yes, he went in his own junk and we both went from Shaukiwan. We worked together when we caught fish. 42. You have got to San Mei. Do you remember where you went to from San Mei? 43. We went from Sha Mun (Samun) to San Mei.
44. After you got to San Mei where did you sail to? 45. Is there a lighthouse at Chelong? Yes.
To Chelong.
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