December 311896
|
ACHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
loase yourself. You assure me that you honestly made a mistake ? A
Mr. Measor I did my Lord.
His Lordship-I will excuse you now, but you must be careful another time. Mr. Cooke, what have you to say?"
Mr. Cooke Your Lordship was kind enough to excuse me last week.
His Lordship-I particularly asked you if it was for a day and you said yes. -
Mr. Cooke-I was going away for three days then, my Lord.
His Lordship-It was on a Friday ? Mr. Cooke-Yes.
His Lordship-You went to Canton that day ?
Mr. Cooke-I did not take it that it was for a day only..
His Lordship-I remember distinctly saying to you that it was. for a day. When did you come back?
Mr. Cooke-On Monday,
His Lordship-We were sitting on Monday, You were only excused in order that you might go to Canton on particular and argent business If you were back in Hongkong on Monday, why should you be excused because you went to Canton on Friday P
Mr. Cooke-I thought the business was finished. I did not know anything was going
on.
before the jury that there was some feud between Raymond and the de- and that the defendant was under the ression that some great wrong had been him by Raymond. It might be suggested the "defendant's sole intention was to punish Raymond in this particular way for the which the defendant supposed had been done him; but the law did not always deal with or look to the actual idea that prevailed in a man's mind when he did an act. The question « might arise whether or not the intention to injure Raymond by writing that letter was a sufficient intent to justify a charge of forgery. - Counsel submitted it was, but there were other considerations as well. A man might have half a dozen intents in his mind, although: one - of them might be the guiding or principal one without which he would not have done the sot. But in point of law a man was presumed to intend the ordinary and natural consequences of his act. If a man fired a loaded gun into 2 a crowd he would be guilty of murder if he killed one among the crowd, although be might be able to prove that his only idea was to frighten people. Supposing the jury were not satisfied that the defendant wrote the letter they could find him guilty on the second count," as he knew the letter had been forged. Counsel then read the follow ing statement made by the defendant at the Police Court:-"Raymond has given m dan cause of offence and I, knowing that he was inime and you the habit of smuggling opium, denounced him to the French Consul two days before the o arrival of the steamer Hanoi in Hongkong on the 28th September last. The French Consul requested me to give more precise informa- tion, so I had Raymond watched. From in- --formation I received, which I believed to be true, I gave further information to the French ~ Consul - I told Mr. Burnett that I had given - information; I made no secret of it. If I had been guilty is it likely I should have done this? As to the making of the box. I have an answer to that which I reserve." The strong probabi- lities, continued counsel, are that the defen- dant's first intention was simply to cause Ray-recognized. mond trouble and annoyance and, according to his statement, he gave general information to the French Consul that Raymond was in the habit of smuggling opium in order to throw suspicion on him, but when the French Consul, as appeared from the statement of the defendant himself, was not satisfied with such indefinite"}| information he demanded more precise in- formation, and as McKinley could not furnish any precise information, because Raymond had -never smuggled, the defendant manufactured the materials which enabled him to give the ..precise" information. He had the box made, filled it with prepared opium, sent it on board with the letter, and then gave information to the French Consul that opium could be found on board in Raymond's cabin.
I
Evidence was then called.
Mr. Raymond spoke to receiving the letter and the box and to being arrested at Haiphong, where he was sentenced to fifteen days' im- prisonment without hard labour and to pay $400 fine...
+
Mr Robinson cross-examined the witness at some length respecting the concubine of Mc- - Kiuley-Witness said he had nothing to do →with the woman leaving defendant's house and going back to her aunt's house. Wit ners had never smuggled opium as beer For as a tin of kerosine. He was sup posed to pay his share of the costs of this prosecution. He did not know whether Mr. Marty was paying the costs. He declined sto say whether he had yet paid any money towards the costs. At the present time he was mot chief engineer of the Hanoi, and he did not know why: bis place had been taken by
another many han
The Court thea adjourned for luncheon, after which Mr. E. A. Messor and Mr. H. S. *Cooks were called before his Lordship and asked
to explain the reason of their absence.
he was not present, last Wednesday when the Court was adjourned and he thought all the business had been dis-
Lordship---Yon must always make sure yon Bro released from attendance before you re-
of:
:
His Lordship-I was indulgent with you that
Mr. Cooke-I should have been extremely pleased to serve, my Lord.
His Lordship You have been exceedingly careless in the matter. It was your duty to find out when you had to serve again. You must pay a fine of $5.
The case was then proceeded with. Witnesses bore ont the counsel's opening statement and one of them, a tinman at the Electric Light Company's works, positively identified a tin box (which was sent from Haiphong and pro- duced in Court for the first time) as the one which he soldered at the request of the defend ant. There were certain marks on it which he
A witness named Kwong Pak failed to appear and Mr. Francis said the man was not in the colony. He had applied for permission to leave the colony in order to get married, but his application was refused and he gave himself permission.
Inspector Stanton gave evidence of the ab- sence of the witness and said the wedding took place on Monday.
His Lordship ordered the absent witness's recognisances to be estreated and a Bench war; rant to issue.
The Court adjourned until this morning ten o'clock.
THE MILITARY CONTRIBUTION.
The following despatch, which is to be laid before the Legislative Council, has been for warded to us from the Colonial Secretary's
office:
THE SECRETARY OF STATE TO THE GOVERNOR.
Council are therefore in paragraph 8 question was on
of their repre of £40,000 was exce
4. They are also in supposi
my
orandum
hat the contr
Su
on
ension 128 of 8th
ony, should it
That
the
June was intended remission of taxation in the hereafter appear that the the necessary expenditure of despatch merely stated that were altered s0 1 25/ receipts out of revenue, on which the Military Contribution is calculated, it would be sary to consider the question of altering the rate of percentage.
take large
5.--I adhere to the opinion that seventeen and a half per cent, of the gross revenue (less land sales) as at present brought to account, is by no means an unreasonable amount for the colony to contribute towards its defence,
6.-I request you to lay this despatch before the Legislative Council I have the honour to be, sir, your most obedient, humble servant,
J. CHAMBERLAIN:
Governor Sir William Robinson, K.C.M.G.,
&c., &c., &c.
THE HONGKONG GENERAL CHAM- BER OF COMMERCE.
At a monthly meeting of the Committee held at the Chamber Rooms, on the 19th De cember, Present: Messrs. A. McConachie (Chairman), H. Smith (Vice-Chairman), N. J. Ede, St. C. Michaelsen, N. A. Seibs, T. H. Whitehead, and R. C. Wilcox (Secretary),
The minutes of the previous meeting were read and confirmed.
THE INCREASE IN TELEGRAȚII RATES. Letters read from Madras Chamber of Com- Singapore, acknowledging receipt of a copy of merce and Struits Settlements Association, the report of proceedings at the special meeting held on the 19th September to protest against the sudden increase of their tariff by the Joint Telegraph Companies. Also from the Colonial Secretary, Colombo, the Colonial Secretary, Straits Settlements, the Chief Secretary, Hobart, the Chief Secretary, Brisbane, the Deputy Postmaster-General, Sydney, and the Chief Secretary, Melbourne, acknowledging receipt of same protest on behalf of the Go- mania, Queensland, New South Wales, and vernment of Ceylon, Straits Settlements, Tas-
Victoria respectively.
THE “CHING TỰ” CASF.
With reference to the case in which the cap- attain of the British steamer Chingtu was recently fined, under the Vagrancy Ordinance, for detaining certain Japanese stowaways on board his ship after arrival here, it was resolved to address the Government on the subject and ask for such amendment of the Ordinance as may be necessary to relieve masters of merchant vessels from further liability for stowaways after handing them over to the authorities. Also to point out the hardship entailed ou shipowners by holding them responsible six- months after arrival in the colony for passengers (who have paid their passages); and to give captains the necessary power to detain stowaways on board for a reasonable time în order that they may be able to communicate with the authorities.
Downing Street, 18th November, 1896. Sir, I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch No. 225 of 23rd September last, forwarding a Memorandum Council, asking that the Military Contribution from the unofficial members of the Legislative
should be again fixed at £40,000 a year, instead of being 17 per cent. of the gross revenue, less the proceeds of land sales.
2... I request you to inform the members of the Council that Her Majesty's Government regret that they cannot agree to this proposal as they cannot admit that a fixed rate of con- tribution for all time, irrespective of the com parative financial ability of the colony to con- tribute to the cost of its defence, is a fair or reasonable arrangement.
3-Yon will remember that in Viscount Knutsford's despatch No. 8 of 20th January, 1890, the contribution of £40,000 a year was fixed for three years only (afterwards extended to five years), on the distinct understanding that the rate would be reconsidered later on, and possibly increased. The members of the
GAP ROCK LIGHT DUES.
A letter from Hon T. H Whitehead, dated 5th December, enclosing copy of correspondence
the
with H.E. the Governor on the question of th abolition of the special Gap Rock light read, and the matter was further considered, Resolved unanimously to abide by the opinions expressed in the Chamber's letter to the Government of the 31st July, last van
[Correspondence already published in Fress:] EXPORT UNDER ARMS AND AMMUNITION ORDINANCES.
رہی۔
Read copy of correspondence forwarded by Mr. Whitehead between himself and HE Governor in reference to a question by member in Council on
the 3rd inst whether the Police Department contin furnish the Imperial Maritime information concerning peimil
issued for the
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.