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heard that Petersen's barman had been discharged for neglecting his duties due to lack of supervision. The board commented that Petersen's more lucrative employment at the German Consulate led him to neglect his business. If he was to continue to hold his spirit licence, he could not leave the management of his business to others (DP 2 Nov. 1875).
Peter Henry Schmidt was a German by birth but came to the East as a young man and married a Portuguese girl from Macao. For many years he was the proprietor of a licensed boarding house for seamen. Over the years he and Petersen built up a money-making business as shipping masters for the recruitment of crews. While Petersen worked his business through the German Consulate, Schmidt did the same through the American Consulate. In 1881, Mr. Smith - he had changed his name from Schmidt to Smith - brought action in the Supreme Court against the American Consul, Colonel John Mosby, for slander. The alleged slander were remarks published by the Consul concerning the involvement of Smith in the desertion of two seamen from the "Belle of Oregon". The Consul had been informed that Smith had harboured the deserters in his garden in Kowloon and that after the "Belle of Oregon" left port, he brought them to his boarding house in his launch. The testimony of Smith stated he had been in Hong Kong about twenty years and had held a licence for a seamen's boarding house for some eighteen years. "During that time," he continued, "I have done a great deal of business for the various Consuls. I and Mr. Petersen have done lately more than half the foreign business of the port. On December 24th, they (the two deserting seamen) brought permits to ship and I took them into my house. They were Scandinavian. I do work for the Consulate. I have done so for the last ten years, gave them board and lodging in the ordinary course of business." Smith then goes into some of the history of his connection with the American Consulate and its licensing of crews, "Since Colonel Mosby has been in the Colony, I have not been an officer of the American Consulate nor in any way connected with it. Under his predecessor I had a desk and a clerk in the U.S. Consulate." Mr. Smith's assistant testified that Colonel Mosby had said, "You can tell Peter Smith he is not going to ship any more men in this office. I shall tell all the American shipmasters not to have anything to do with him." The assistant also told the court that in his despatches the Consul had called Mr. Smith some very hard names. Mosby had attacked everyone who had previously been connected with the Consulate.
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heard that Petersen's barman had been discharged for neglecting his duties due to lack of supervision. The board commented that Petersen's more lucrative employment at the German Consulate led him to neglect his business. If he was to continue to hold his spirit licence, he could not leave the management of his business to others (DP 2 Nov. 1875).
Peter Henry Schmidt was a German by birth but came to the East as a young man and married a Portuguese girl from Macao For many years he was the proprietor of a licensed boarding house for seamen. Over the years he and Petersen built up a money-making business as shipping masters for the recruitment of crews. While Petersen worked his business though the German Consulate, Schmidt did the same through the American Consulate. In 1881, Mr. Smith - he had changed his name from Schmidt to Smith - brought action in the Supreme Court against the American Consul, Colonel John Mosby, for slander. The alleged slander were remarks published by the Consul concerning the involvement of Smith in the desertion of two seamen from the "Belle of Oregon". The Consul had been informed that Smith had harboured the deserters in his garden in Kowloon and that after the "Belle of Oregon" left port, he brought them to his boarding house in his launch. The testimony of Smith stated he had been in Hong Kong about twenty years and had held a licence for a seamen's boarding house for some eighteen years. "During that time," he continued, "I have done a great deal of business for the various Consuls. I and Mr. Petersen have done lately more than half the foreign business of the port. On December 24th, they (the two deserting seamen) brought permits to ship and I took them into my house They were Scandanavian. I do work for the Consulate. I have done so for the last ten years, gave them board and lodging in the ordinary course of business." Smith then goes into some of the history of his connection with the American Consulate and its licensing of crews, "Since Colonel Mosby has been in the Colony, I have not been an officer of the American Consulate nor in any way connected with it Under his predecessor I had a desk and a clerk in the U.S. Consulate." Mr. Smith's assistant testified that Colonel Mosby had said, "You can tell Peter Smith he is not going to ship any more men in this office. I shall tell all the American shipmasters not to have anything to do with him." The assistant also told the court that in his despatches the Consul had called Mr Smith some very hard names. Mosby had attacked everyone who had previously been connected with the Consulate.
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