March 20, 1895||
legally qualified medical practitioner might send in certificates in writing that in his opinion this and that house, naming all the houses in a street, or all the houses in the colony for that matter, ought to be destroyed, and the Board would be bound to give effect to his decision, for they have re-
served no discretion to themselves in the matter, except as to the manner of the destruction; it is not even necessary that disease should have occurred in a house to ensure its destruction if any doctor happens to think fit, all that is necessary being "any sanitary reason." It can never have been intended to
give such wide power to individual medical practitioners, and the word "building" must therefore have been included in the section by inadvertence. Sections 27 and 33 sufficiently deal with the question of buildings, for power to close insanitary dwellings must be considered ample. Aay landlord finding his property closed and consequently rendere l munerative would in his own interest proceed to effect such alterations even to the extent of total rebuilding as might be sufficient to secure permission for its re- occupation.
unre-
THE REGULATION OF COMMON
LODGING-HOUSES.
From the report of the last meeting of the Sanitary Board it will be observed that the by-laws with respect to common lodging houses are to be put into forceforthwith. If the authorities show a firm front we do not anticipate that any serious difficulty will be encountered. It is, however, within the bounds of possibility that a coolie strike may be attempted, but in any case there must be no giving way. The probability is that there will be no active resistance to the law whatever, but that the keepers of the common lodging bouses, or coolie houses as they are generally called, will, when they see the authorities are in earnest, docilely sub. mit to the regulations. It would be a mis- take to proceed on the assumption, as sug. gested by the Registrar-General, that the matter is one for negotiation with the coolies. It is a case for demanding and if necessary' enforcing obedience. As suggested by Mr. FRANCIS in his minute published in the re- port of the last meeting of the Board, nego- tiation would be looked upon by the coolies and their head men as a sign of weakness and indecision; and as the Captain Superin- tendent of Police says in another minutė, "there has been far too much coolie rule in Hongkong; hence every reform, whether sanitary or otherwise, is met with an in- "variable non possumus from the native popu
lation So it will be to the end of the chapter so long as coolie rule is allowed, but let it once be clearly understood that obedience to the law will be enforced and there will be little serious attempt at re- sistance.
The main object of the by-laws is to en- force the registration of all common lodging houses with a view to the prevention of over- crowding and the observance of reasonable sanitary requirements. By-laws were ori ginally passe for this purpose in 1891, but weakly yielding to the threat of a strike, the the Sanitary Board postponed bringing them into operation sine die. The principal objec tions raised in the petitions against the by: laws in 1891 were to the furnishing of cer tificates of character by the keepers of lodging houses and the giving of security. As we remarked on a previous occasion, these objections appear absolutely frivolous, for no respectable man can have any diffi culty in getting a certificate of character, while as to the security, the by-laws do not
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
209
witness box. and gave evidence as to the admis sion by the defendant,
Judgment for plaintiff with costs was given. IN CRIMINAL SESSIONS.
18th March.
ACTING CHIEF JUSTICE.
THE MURDEROUS AFFRAY BETWEEN GUNNERS, Wariam Singh, gauner in the Artillery, was indicted for unlawfully wounding Sarmukh Singh, with intent to murder him, at Lyemoon, on the 14th_ult.
fix the amount, which is apparently left to the Registrar-General, who would not be likely to fix it at any extravagant sum. If any real difficulty arose on this point the security might perhaps be dispensed with altogether or made merely nominal, for all that is required is the ability to get BEFORE HIS HONOUR MR. W. M. GOODMAN, hold of the responsible man should any breach of the law be committed, and this might presibly be assured by simple registration. The Registrar-General, how- ever, now reports that the regulations, which were supposed to have come into force on the 1st January, have not been complied with, although he has carefully explained them to the masters and occupants of the lodging houses, with a view to reinoving any mis- apprehension which might exist. Under the circumstances set out in the Registrar- General's report the only thing to be done is to institute prosecutions against any men who still fail to comply with the law after due warning.
.
THE WAR.
REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.
LONDON, 18th March. The Times correspondent at Peking states that China, through the medium of the American Ministers at Peking and Tokyo has already agreed to many points which will be under discussion at the peace conference. These points include the autonomy of Korea, the cession of territory, and the payment of an indemnity. dai with a loss of 1.400.
The Chinese have been driven out of Densho-
LONDON, 14th March Nothing is known in London concerning the Japanese conditions of peace, but the Russian newspaper Novoe Vremya states that Japan demands the cession of a portion of Manchuria to Moukden and the great wall.
LONDON, 15th March.
Japan.
The Peace Envoys have left Tientsin for
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The Timea correspondent at Kobe states that the Japanese intend to occupy the Pescadores as a base of operations against Formosa and South China.
LONDON, 18th March.
The Japanese have captured A Chinese gunboat with a quantity of munitions of war at Newchwang.
China is soliciting the intervention of Russia and Germany to protect the integrity of her continental territory against the Japanese demands..
SUPREME COURT.
15th March.
IN SUMMARY JURISDICTION.
BEFORE HIS HONOUR MR. A. G. WI-E.
THE PRIVILEGES OF SOLICITORS,
Mr. Dennys appeared in an action in which Harry Deans sued Solomon Isaac Danby for $1,000 money received by the defendant from the plaintiff.
Mr. Dennys said that the day the writ was issued the defendant filed his petition in bank. ruptcy. Plaintiff did not consider it worth his time to remain in the colony, as he did not know what would be done in the bankruptcy. He left the colony and gave him (Mr. Dennys) power of attorney and the defendant admitted owing the money. Mr. Dennys added that he was prepared to be sworn as to the defendant's admisson.
His Lordship-Very well, you had better get into the box,
Mr. Dennys-I understand that it is always the privilege of a solicitor to be allowed to be
sworn at the table.
Hon. A. J. Leach, Acting Attorney-General, structed by Mr. A. B Johnson, Crown Solicitor, conducted the case for the Crown, being in-
defended by Mr. J. J. Francis, Q.C., instructed and the prisoner, who_pleaded not guilty, was by Mr. H. J. Holmes.
The following constituted the jury-Messrs. H. A. do Rozario, H, M. Brown, R. Park, G. V. P. de Jesus, F. X. Xavier, M. S. Northcote, and A. M. Roza Pereira.
The evidence for the prosecution was that on the 14th ult. the prisoner entered the complain- ant's bed room and struck him on the head with an iron chopper, inflicting very serious injuries. At the Police Court the complainant said that he did not know who struck him, but now asserted that it was the prisoner who attacked him.
For the defence several witnesses were called who stated that they did not see the chopper used, and that part of complainant's injuries were caused by falling down on some stone work.
Mr. Francis, for the defence, said there was
no reasonable doubt that there was a prior dis- turbance between the prisoner and the com. plainant in the guard room, and that the pri soner snatched up the chopper in self-defence after being bullied and attacked by the com- plainant, who was the bully of the Company, and who threatened to "lick" the prisoner if he did not keep quiet. The only direct evidence that the prisoner struck the blow with the chopper was the statement of the complainant himself, who, there could be no doubt, was the aggressor. The complainant had contradicted his evidence, and Counsel asked the jury, if they believed that the prisoner did use the chopper. to say that he was guilty of the lesser offence that of unlawfully wounding. But the jury could say that they were not able to find that the prisoner used the chopper at all.
The Acting Attorney-General, in reply, ad-α mitted that there was some doubt in the case. The witnesses were not Europears; they were Asiatics, and it was well known that the vera- bity of Asiatics-Chinese or Indians-was of a far lower standard than the veracity of Earo- peans. In every case that came before the Court there would always be found a good deal of con- tradiction in the evidence of Asiatics.
The jury returned a verdict of guilty of un- lawfully wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm,
The prisoner was sent to gaol for two years with hard labour,
THE SECRETARY OF STATE AND THE PLAGUE WORKERS.
The following despatch from the Secretary of State for the Colonies is published in the Ga zette :-
Downing Street.
29th January, 1895. Sir, I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch No. 262 of the 6th of December last enclosing a copy of a letter from the Acting Chief Justice, in his capacity of Chairman of the Committee appointed at the public meeting which was held for the purpose of recognising services rendered during the re- cent epidemic of the plague.
I have also to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch No. 267 of the 11th of December ens closing newspaper reports of the proceedings at the meeting and at a subsequent military parada. His Lordship-I have never seen that done
2.I have taken due note of names which are here.
more prominently brought forward in these des- Mr. Dannys-Of course, I do not object to go-patches, and I have experienced great satisfao- ing into the box, but at home it is customary for tion in bringing to the notice of the Secretary of State for War the services rendered by Major, solicitors to be sworn at the table.
His Lordship-That is not the case here. You | General Barker, C.B, and the officers and men had better take your gown off.
of the Garrison under his command, to whom the Mr. Dennys thereupon disrobed, ontered the I thanks of Her Majesty's Government are due, in
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