1936-06-10 — Page 7

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HONG KONG DAILY PRESS, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 10, 1936.

FATHER BYRNE'S TALK P. AND 0. NEWS

TO ROTARIANS

"DEATH KNELL OF FREEDOM”

IS TITLE

WEEKLY TIFFIN HELD

Speaker at the weekly tiffin of the Rotary Club at the Hong Kong Hotel roof, garden yesterday was Father G Byrne, S. J., who entertained members with one of his characteristic addresses embracing logic and philoso- phy, leavened with occasional touches of wit.

A

Visitors were Rotarians F. J. K. But on reading the pamphlet Vanderwal of Samarang, Java, C. sighed with astonishment: can T. Walkley of Orange, New Jersey keen mathematical mind conceive and L. A. Falkner of Shanghal. | such fantacles, and why. on earth. Rev. J. G. H. Baker of Canton and does he write them. Here are a Messrs. John C. Pool, H. H. Bed- few lines: dow, M. J. Abbott and R. Edwards of Hong Kong..

In bringing greetings from the Samarang Club and extending ap invitation to members to visit the Club Rotarian Vanderwal, a form er resident of Hong Kong. express ed" his pleasure in seeing so many of the friends he had had in 1917.

The Chairman (Mr. W. N Troplas Iam

thanked members for electing him President of the Club and nlan expressed the thanks of the newly-elected

directors.

יו

FATHER BYRNE Father Byrne said:- 1. had "selected as my original theme: "Some Forgotten Women." However Professor

to

"APPOINTMENTS

Captain W. A. Cotching at pre- stat in command of the “Rajpu- tana," homeward bound from Japan and Chins, and due in London on the 18th June, is grante ed leave of absence as from the 25th June, and Captain E, Wil- liams is appointed to command of the "Rajputana" from that date for a voynge..

Captain Williams until recently commanded the P. & O. Branch Liner "Balranald," which, as ħal- ready reported, has been sold for breaking up owing, to the with- drawal of the Branch Line Bervice. Burgech S. I. Wetr Joined the "Strathnaver" for the passage to Australia, and to take his charge at Melbourne.

dis-1.

Surgeon O J. P. Bollen has been appointed surgeon in the "Ranch!". which sailed on the 22nd instant for China and Japan.

Surgeon R. Trevelyn-Jones is appointed to the "Naldera," sailing for Bombay and Japan on the 5th June.

Mr. T. W. Vincent is transferred as Chief Engineer from the recent-

A BIG CLAIM BY

BOMBAY FIRM.

Brings Action Against The Dollar Line

"

FRAUD ALLEGATIONS

A special jury was empanelled yesterday to hear claim for $92.862.75 brought by Messrs. Rajaram Girdharilali and Company, of Bombay, against the Dol- lac Steamship Line. The claim was that a consignment of 370 bales of raw silk, on delivery, turned out to be cot- ton waste.

CARGO OF SILK FROM CANTON

新

い

lading that the initial carrier was a river steamer.

The action was heard before the Acting Chief Justice (Mr. Justice Hayden) who was assisted by the following Jury:-Messrs. W. A

“ACTUAL FRAUD". "There is no allegation," con- Cornell (Foreman), T. A. Mitchelluinued Mt. Sheldon, "that the de- fendants deliberately stated. any- thing which they knew to be un- true.

V. D. Sorby, H. H. H. Priestley, and 3. D. Danby.

UNYIELDING DESPAIR "That man is the product di causes which had no provision of the end they were achieving: that his origin. his growth, his hopes and fears, his loves and beliefs. ly withdrawn Branch liner "Eal-Li Tse-long. C. M. Gee, are but the outcome of accidentalranald" to the "Naldera," ertlocations of atoms; that no fire, no herolam, no intensity of thought and feeling, can preserve an in- dividual life beyond the grave that all the labour of ages, all the devotion all the Inspiration... of human genlus., are destined to ex- tinction in the vast death of the solar system

are nearly so certain that no philosophy which rejects them can hope to stand

only on the firm foundation of unyielding despair can the soul's habitation henceforth be safely bullt."

11

Miss I. Midlem Nursing Sister in the "Ranchi" la appointed now outward bound for Bombay and Japan.

TYPHOON IS NEAR LOOCHOOS

Manila observatory advised yes- terday at 3 p.m." that the typhoon is now about 128 deg. long. and 27 deg. lat. (near the Loochoos) and is recurving north-eastward.

to behave in a way which is unna- tural to it"

Middleton Smith, whose persuasiveness is as dynamic as his engineering skill. hinted that, following immediate-

I think that you will admit that ly after Ladies' Day, it might be

"Hong Kong Attract.ve For inappropriate stray

into Touris" and our new dam would Happy Valley where daisies had bx sorry endeavours, on the Arm faded and roses lost their bloom. foundation of unyielding despair."not Newton's discovery based on Clear isn't it? But is it true? Was I fell back on the "Death-Kneil

However I am not so concerned precisely the opposite" statement, of Freedom. Association of deas with the "Free Man's Worship" all that, "of its own nature." it does Possibly! Though. let me hasten the more so as the title is inap- not fall to the ground; if it fall to say there was no concept of propriate for a writer who denies there must be some force tugging Ladies Day and henpecked husman's freedom. I 3m thinking at it: the force of gravity. bands being wedded concepts.

The much more of the B.B.C. and the flustration to start us on the no The treedom in my mind is not possible chaos induced Into the ton of free act on is unhappy: It. directly the fundamental maxim mind of the average man by the can only serve to cloud the issues: Rousseau in his "Emile:" "The broadcasts of one enjoying the we start with a false conception. frat, of all good things is not au- standing of Professor MacMurray When the idea gets developed by thority. but liberty. I am con- of the London University; broad-the cerned about the noblest type of casts now published in a volumen agazine, we are listening to first "penny, worth of all sorts" -liberty-the freedom which is entitled ""Freedom in the Modern notes of the death-knell of free- from within. The freedom which world." The title suggests a poli-dom of the genuine concept of alone renders submission to autical outlook, as the "Modern" human freedom. thority ideal, so that without it world is full of political problems Let us go back to the opening obedience is animal acquiescence

freedom. In fact It has sentence: "anything is free when or the cowering of the slave.

nothing to do with politics." It is it acts spontaneously." The move- The patriot enchained in prison concerned with the internal free-ments of the roots of a plant are may be a noble example of thisdom of which the most hen-peck- spontaneous, freedom. while the tyrant

heart ed of husbands cannot be robbed beats, and quite a number of im- bound him may possess £1. slave

la spite of his external attitude to pulsive actions. These mind.

acts are the new trial pudding.

all determined;" they are not free. Reflex actions so carefully studied Macaulay wrote: "a campalyn by Pavlov and made the kernel of cannot be directed by a debating Behaviouristic teaching, sound in- society." a tolerably safe state-deed the death-knell of freedom. ment: books. however, may spread it they be accepted as the key

the "human powder trains, and prepare the which winds Marx's "Das Kapital" did so. world for social explosions. Karl chine,"

who

Soun-

There have always been ders of the death-knell of free- dom. On the whole. however. man has been little affected by the preaching under the caption "Determinism” or "Materialism” when they would persuade us, for example, that there was no free

ROOT OF SOCIAL LIFE Responsibility for our actions lies at the root of social life; it is assumed by the magistrate who

of

1.

POWER OF BOOKS

SO

are

my

ma-

Mr. H. G. Sheldon, K.C.. and Mr. Leo D'Almada, jar, instructed by Mr. H. J. Armstrong, of Messrs. Deacons, appeared for plaintif; de- fendant was represented by Mr. Eldon Potter, K.C., and Mr. H. C. Macnamara, instructed by Mr. G. S. Hugh-Jones, of Messrs. Wilkin son and Grist.

deaung plantit firm had with a Mr. Sheldon said that the first irm in Canton-the China Over staa Inter-Trading Co. was in March, 1934 when a deal for 50 bales of raw silk, was put through

A further agreement with the

1934 when 370 bales of raw silk same firm was contracted in July

were purchased, and to pay this a letter of credit was opened with

The plaintiffs' allegation is

simply this, that the defendants

made out in the bills of lading that the goods were shipped by the steamer without any knowledge and did not care whether this was in fact the case. If the jury find that the defendants had An honest beller that the goods were shipped by river steamer and not by junk, then that is the end of the cage."

Mr. Potter remarked that he would like Mr. Sheldon to make it clear what was the actual "harge against his clients.

After reading authorities in sup- Sheldon sald that the charge was port of his clients" case, Mr.

actual fraud."

An accountant of the Mercantile the Mercantile Bank of India, in Bank. Mr. J. R. Swales, in evidence favour of the shippers for 75,000 said that upon receiving the docu- rupees which

was the purchasements from Chang he went to the price of the cargo.

Dollar Line to find out whether the

On July 7, 1934 the durandant documents were in order or not. agreed to ship this cargo to the There he was told they were in plaintiffs in Bombay for the Can order and had been signed by Mr. ton firm and transhipment bills of Carpenter. lading were issued.

MONEY PAID

་

WAS JUNK USEDY

have

He would never have paid the

carrier was a junk because, in this money if he knew that the initial

case, the goods would not been under proper control

In reply to Mr. Potter, witness said that silk variably came down by river steamers. He had never known an exception to that,

Trading Co., then caued on the Mr. Chang of the Overseas Inter-

manager of the Bank and present ea" a bill of excitrange for 20,000 rupees, togetner with other docu- ments. BarRoss, the manager passed them on to Mr. Swales of ne Bulls Department who looked through the pills carefully and on Mr. Potter: That is going to be, nis confirmation the money was my case. It is not a question of paid and the goods changed hands"customary" but "invariably" that On July 21, Mr. Chang went to silk was anipped by river steamers, the Bank again and obtained the and there is no exception to that balance of the money, 45,000. You saw Mr. Arndt when you went

to the Dollar Steamship Line?

Witness: Yes.

All you asked him was to verity the signature of Mr. Carpenter?- Yes. Mr. Arndt said it was the

The goods were duly atipped by the President Van Buren and on arrival the plaintiffs were some-. what surprised to find that they

nothing Professor contained

more than waste. On August 21 they had in-signature of Mr. Carpenter. formation that Mr. Chang had Did you ask him on what parti- disappeared and the firm was Lo cular steamer was the silk shipped

onger in existence.

from Canton to Hong Kong?-No. That the whole business was a If the Dollar Line had been in- swindle from beginning to end and formed by Chang of the name of that the goods did not come down the initial carrier they would have from Canton at all was the sub-inevitably put it in the bills of mission of Mr. Sheldon, who stated lading?—No, - that it was out on the under- If the defendants" had issued a Scanding that the goods

cam bill of lading from Hong Kong to river Bombay covering the cargo in question you would have paid that bill of lading at once?--No.

The social consequences would cholce of a menu card item; that

The average radio listener re-be far-reaching. The brain cells automatically wobbled

tains little .of the broadcast himself draws some of them-- "duct" and, thanks to a tuned system of efferent nerves. the rarely best sellers. The mischief writers to

message; and professore books are (though he expresses surprise that the *Morning Post" tongue quacked it.

lies in the distribution of the un- should have laked his "doctrine wholesome drug in cheap concoc-with Bolshev'sm). You may judge tions, in the sensational magazine from the following passage: and the peace-for-all pamphlet.

MORAL LAW In slum districts of certain big

"We often hear of people talking cities are vile gin houses where about obeying the moral law as they sell a "Penny-worth of All if that meant being good er being A zin counter slopes into moral. I am saying that this is a a" big barrel into which drains false idea of morality. There is drezs of beer, rum. whiskey. wines no such thing as a moral law, and at all descriptions.

For one penny the hapless child the idea of obedience has no place in morality...so far as my be- at the pavement may have a glass haviour consists in obedience I am

It

hnes the eareless car-parker. plutocrat who purrs on reading the public testimony to his great souled generosity.

13 accepted by the benevolent

Indeed. It is the idea of respon- sibility resting on freedom of choice, that clearly separates the bag-snatcher from the bone-saat- cher and stigmatises the prison but not the kennel, whatever re- semblances there may be between them. Man is ncble because he is free,"

tion of freedom.

One conclusion forced on me is

that a subtle attack is being made

on the very notion of freedom.

Sorts,"

of this mixture-a "penny-worth hot free; I am in fact a slave to of all sorts." Human purveyors whomever and whatever I obey."

down from Canton in a Steamer that the Bank had paid cut the money. This was proved by the mate's receipt and the ad." v.ce of shipment

NOT BY STEAMER

It was customary, Counsel con-

can fall so low. But there is Is it necessary to enlarge on the tinued, or poto parties in a case calculated to kill within us the the obedient child the slave. not ments sefore the Court, but the worse concoction: it is the type consequences of such doctrine? Isuke tus to produce relevant docu- noblest spring of manhood-the responsible for his behaviour? Is appreciation of freedom and the

use of God's richest naturni

parsage shows:

the disobedient оле the most. ideally master of himself?

one of the freest in the Athenian

Mr. Ross said he would, why not you7-Because the letter of credit calls for shipment from Canton.

I put it to you that you were en- tirely wrong because that letter of credit does no require shipment from Canton?—No.

Did you ask Chang for the name

I didn't think of it. of the river steamer?-No, because

You were looking for a loophole to avoid payment Yes.

Witness added that the reason

Recently I have been comparing

Gefendants had failed to put for and contrasting A number of

ward a single scrap of paper to books by different writers as well

I must content myself with a

show how this cargo came to be as essays: all prominent men such

One of the strange conclusions brief comment on one or two

Canton to Hong as Whitehead, Einstein, MacMur-

that the secret of freedom les shipped from in passages

"Freedom in the ray. Max Planck. Russell, various Modern World". After 170 pages

Kong. | in the capacity for friendship.

There was a strong sus-

"And you missed the loophole by contributors to... "Science To-day" of preparatory matter we reach

Are we not justified in believing picion that the cargo was not ear- planned by the late Sir J. Arthur the chapter "On Three Kinds of that the man-hater Diogenes was

ried by a river steamer, and if the not asking?-No, because even if the name of the steamer was not defendants could prove to the con-mentioned it did not necessarily Thomson. AU philosophise, but

Freedom." Professor MacMurray market place when he gruffly told trary, then it would be and of the mean we would refuse the bill. with a different accent: ali at has the gift of a clear, flowing Alexander, proffering h's favours. case. If the defendants had men times are concerned with the no persuasive style as the following that the only favour he wanted tuned to the bills of lading which why he was looking for a loophole was that Alexander should get out they issued that the goods were not was that he learned that the China SPONTANEOUS ACTS · of his sunlight.

shipped by a river steamer, the Overseas Inter-Trading Co., was "Anything is free when it acts The wise father tries to impress Bank would never have paid over not of good standing. Perhaps one of the first intim-spontaneously. ΤΟ aët spon-on his children the sense of res- the money..

The evidence of Mr. Shroff, a tions of the attack was a present taneously is to act from oneself,ponsibility daughter of freedom.

Mr. Ross had stated that he had junior partner of the plaintiff firm, made to me in a New York book-from within outwards, so that the Order, harmony, law, peace, hap never heard of a case before where Mr. Annett, of Messrs. Grimiths and shop of a pamphlet "A Free Man's action expresses the agent, and piness must rest on it. The wel-valuable cargoes were not shipped Co., of Canton, and Mr. 3. B. Rosé, Worship," a reprint of a chapter has its source wholly and simply fare of the world calls for it. by river steamers, and both he and

which was taken" on commission, in Bertrand Russell's "Mysticism in the. agent... everything has a There is a danger in our midst; a

Mr. Gwales aaid they would never

was then read to the jury.. and Logic." That was some years nature of its own, which nature is subtle one but a real one: the have negotiated the bills unless ago, but even though golden do"- really its capacity for behaving in danger of book. magazine, or pa- they were satisfied the goods were

LEGAL ARGUMENT, lars and golden oranges may once a way peculiar to 'taelf....A stone per which writes Man with a capi- carried down in this manner. Mr. Potter spent the afternoon have grown equally in the Califor-falls freely to the ground; it tal M to make him part of Reality Counsel then went on to submit | arguing his submission that there mian orange-groves, one hardly doesn't rise freely from the with a capital R, heading to Pro- that the cargo was not carried was no case to go to the jury, expected fres distributions in Newground; but it can be thrown up-gresa with a capital P. but devold down from Canton to Hong Kong The hearing was adjourned to 19 York bookshops.

wards. Then it does not express of even a modestly small freedom. | by a river steamer, and that the am, to-day when Mr. Sheldon will The title was attractive for one its own nature, it is mastered by The vote of thanks was, moved defendants had recklessly and continue the argument. The Jury who believes in freedom, as I do. an external force and constrained' by Rotarian C.E. Terry.

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