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April 1, 1896.]
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CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
26th March.
IN BANKRUPTCY.
BEFORE HON W. M. GOODMAN (ACTING CHIEF JUSTICE).
RE EDWARD FRANK-BIRCHAL.
E. J. Grist appeared for the bankrupt.
This was an application for discharge. Mr.
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273
'FREJR” AShore at CAPE
CAMI.
Late on Sunday night Mr. A. R. Marty received a telegram stating that the Frejr was ashore in a bad position three miles from Cape Cami. The Frejr was chartered by Mr. Marty and was on a voyage from Pakhoi to Hongkong. She left Pakhoi at five o'clock on the afternoon of the 27th inst. with a general cargo. No further details are to hand.
TENSION OF THE COLONY'S BOUNDARIES.
The following is the first letter addressed by the Hon. C. P. Chater to the Governor on the
above subject--
for a continued improvement in the demand for those classes of goods which China is unable to supply herself with.. Equilibrium between the relative purchasing powers in the East and the West of gold and silver respectively will ia course of time be re- established by natural causes. Until recently a dollar in China possessed practically the same value as it had had since time immemor-
His Lordship-In this case the debtor ap- ial, whereas in the West its value had been plies for his discharge in accordance with the diminished by one half; but there seems order of the Court fixing to-day for the hearing now to be some indication that silver is of his application. The debtor was adjudicated HON. C. P. CHATER ON THE EX-
the 6th ultimo. His liabilities falling in China, whereas it is rising again in bankrupt on Europe, and a common value will no doubt appear from his statement of affairs to amount in course of time be arrived at. In the to some $16,000, but creditors have only sent in proofs to the amount of $9.000, and his assets meantime the temporary dislocation has
as realised up to the present time amount to given an immense impetus to manu-something under $1,800. The debtor appears facturing industry in Asia, with a per- to have started in business in Hongkong in manent loss to Europe of a valuable trade July, 1894. He states he then had goods in various staples. Some compensation for of the value of $100consigned to him by this is to be found in the increased Villa y Lopez of Barcelona. These goods trade in machinery, and, with the further were opening up of China the aggregate value of her foreign trade, both in imports and ex- ports, is bound to increase. One remark of Mr. KOPSCH's has a special interest for us in the South, now that we are on the eve of the establishment of steam navigation on the West River. The paddy crop in Kwang- tung last year was a small one and food stuffs had to be largely imported to supply the deficiency. A propos of this Mr. KOPSCH says:- "That the province of which Canton is the capital can pay over twenty-five million taels for food products without any "unusual distress or scarcity being heard of speaks marvels for the resources of South "China."
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46
SUPREME COURT.
25th March.
CRIMINAL SESSIONS.
BEFORE HON. W. M. GOODMAN (ÁCTING CHIEF JUSTICE.)
THEFT BY A QUARTERMASTER.
Mahomed Said was charged with stealing $160 belonging to William Wodney, chief officer of the Tsinan.
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Hon. H. E. Pollock (Acting Attorney- General) prosecuted, and the prisoner, who pleaded not guilty, was undefended.
The following jury tried the case-Messrs. J. B. E. Silva, O. Ribeiro, G. W. G. Harling, J. A. Remedios, R. T. Wright, F. C. Wilford, and E. A. Silva.
Before the evidence was heard his Lordship spoke about the non-attendance of the witnesses in the case on the first day of the sessions. They had been bound over to appear at the sessions, but when the Court assembled it was stated that the witnesses had gone away to Australia in the Tsinan and would not be back until yesterday; consequently the case had to be adjourned. His Lordship, addressing the chief officer, said that some judges would have estreated the recognizances of the witnesses, and it must be clearly understood that people had no right to leave the colony when they were bound over to appear as witnesses. If an application had been made to his Lord- ship he would certainty have allowed the wit- nesses to leave, but it was not respectful to the Court to leave without permission. The chief officer had no doubt acted unintentionally, and his Lordship hoped the warning would be borne in mind in future.
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The prisoner was a quartermaster on the Tsinan and on the voyage from Australia to Hongkong the chief officer missed $160 from his cash box, which was locked in a drawer in Lis cabin. This was on the 6th February and it turned out that a boy had seen the prisoner put his hand into the drawer and he afterwards changed some of the notes into sterling.
Prisoner was found guilty and his Lordship sent him to gaol for two years with hard labour.
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This concluded the business of the sessions.
Hongkong, 19th November, 1894. SIE, At the interview with which you were so good as to favour me on Thursday last, I took the liberty of calling your Excellency's atten- tion to the very limited extent of the colony's
disposed of in Manila, but at a loss. His business seems to have been carried on most unsuccessfully, and he filed his territory on the opposite mainland of China; to petition on the 17th of December last. It the very close proximity of the Chinese boun- would seem therefore that his financial positio. dary line to the harbour and city of Victoria and on that date was some $24,000 worse than when to the fortifications that defend both; to the
He
very great danger to which, in time of war, he started business the previous year.
the attributes his failure to the necessary expenses colony would, in consequence, be exposed; and incidental to the starting of a new business and to the very great inconveniences we suffer, even in time of peace; and I ventured to suggest for to losses on charters; the outbreak of plague in 1894 having greatly increased his difficulties in your Excellency's consideration that the present. establishing a new business upon a profitable was a most favourable time for obtaining, if pos- basis. He also alleges that the publication in sible, a re-adjustment of boundaries and an ex- Hongkong of an express by Messrs. Villa y tension of territory such as would obviate these Lopez of Barcelona repudiating their connection inconveniences and preclude these dangers in with him in business in this colony shattered the future. I further suggested that your Excel- all his hopes of retrieving his losses. I do lency might usefully call the attention of the not think that in his position he was justified Government in England to our position; to in renting a house like Ravenshill at a rental the dangers attendant on it, accentuated as of $100 a month and incurring family ex- they have been by recent events in China, and penses for himself and his household of another to the opportunity now presented of improving $500 a month which he says he did incur. I that position by negotiations with the Chinese will express no opinion, in the absence of full ex- Government. Your Excellency was so good as planation by the Barcelona firm, as to whether the to approve of what I said and to promise to publication of the express was justifiable or not. forward and support any representations I At all events, a person recommended to them by might make to you in writing on the subject, the bankrupt in Manila seems to have caused the and that you would be glad to have them set Barcelona firm some heavy losses and they may, forth at length, with the reasons in support. I not unaturally, have desired promptly to close had discussed the matter about a month pre- all business connections with the bankrupt, viously with the honourable the Acting Colo- whatever the nature of those connections nial Secretary, but only in brief; and I now may have been. The bankrupt appears, on beg to submit to your Excellency's considera- a previous occasion, to have been concerned tion a full statement of the case as it appears to me, and of the many reasons that seem to in the business of Robinson and Legarda at Manila, which proved a failure and was liqui me to concur in rendering it desirable that an effort should be now made, and a vigorous dated in 1884. I must say that I cannot re- gard with satisfaction the way in which the effort, to enlarge the boundaries of the colony, not for the sake offritory, but wholly and business was carried on in Hongkong; but I am informed by the trustee that, since the debtor solely for the sake of its more efficient adminis-
tration and protection. filed his petition, he has rendered every assist- ance in collecting the assets and, so far, his conduct has been satisfactory. Section 27 of the Bankruptcy Ordinance, sub-sect.. requires me either to refuse an order for his discharge or to suspend the operation of that order for a specified time, because it is clear that the divi- dend which will be paid on the proved debts will be much less than fifty per cent. lu all the circumstances I am of opinion that the justice of the case will be met by suspending operation of the order of discharge for a period of six months.
MR. JOHN ANDREW'S CASE SETTLED.
The Hongkong Telegraph publishes the fol- lowing extracts from letters received from Mr. John Andrew, which have been forwarded to our contemporary by a correspondent at Canton:-
EXTRACT NO. 1.
Wuchow, 17th March. "I am preparing to leave. Everything has been settled in my favour, and I expect to sail for Canton on the 19th instant. It may take me six days to get down to Canton, for I have a lot of cargo and can't manage to charter a launch."
EXTRACT NO 2.
"Wnchow, 20th March. "I am leaving this on the 22nd. My cargo is all discharged and I am busy taking in a quantity of native opium. I shall probably be with you on the morning of the 28th instant."
First, may I remind your Excellency that if we were to look only at Her Majesty's Letters Patent creating this colony of Hongkong, dated the 5th April, 1843, our boundaries ought to be considerably more spacious than they are. The boundaries of the colony of Hongkong and its dependencies are stated to be between 22 deg. 9 min. and 22 deg. 21 min. North latitude and 114 deg. 18 min. and 114 deg. 6 min. East longitude. These boundaries, if laid down on the map, would have taken in Lamma Island on the south, and the opposite range of mountains on the north, and would have left both sides of the Lyeemoon in our hands. How- ever that may have been, and whatever degree of importance is now to be attached to the word- ing of the Letters Patent, it is clear that only the island of Hongkong and the smaller islets in close proximity to its shores were originally taken possession of. Until 1860 Stonecutters Island and the entire peninsula of Kowloon were Chinese territory. It did not matter much when the colony was of little importance and the inhabitants comparatively few, and when the troops were armed with the old tower musket and cannon shot was barely a mile. Even when, in 1860, it was thought advisable, first to lease, and then to acquire Kowloon, rifled cannon were in their infancy, ironclads were unknown, . and a boundary line at the foot of the opposite hills was thought to be ample for the protection of the city and the harbour. As late as 1878, when the first fortifications were erected for the defence of the island, the Hunghom and
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