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THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND polo. I am afraid it is not the usual excuse of] to 30 miles in length. The heaviest work in equestrians, "no time," but "the will" that is outting the road will be round Mount Davis, wanting.
which is very rough and rocky. It is thought that the idea which has been generally expressed of commencing the road both at the Shankiwan and Kennedytown ends will be carried out.
Several other toasts followed including "The Chairman," who after replying proposed the health of the worthy father of the club, Major Walter B. Fletcher, Royal Artillery, and Capt. Geo. F. Phillips and Mr. C: C. Blackburne Tew of the West Yorkshire, the latter two officers being absent through indisposition. The toast was warnly pledged and a thoroughly enjoyable evening terminated with the singing of Auld Lang Syne."
COURT MARTIAL IN HỌNGKO G.
HONGKO
A. BOY STRIKES THE "EDGAR CAPTAIN,
On 10th January a first class boy named Aloysius Mitchell, seventeen years of age. was court-martialled on board H.M S. Edgar for assaulting Captain King Hall with both fists.
The Court was composed of Captain the Hon. Hedworth Lambton, H.M.S. Powerful, Presi- dent; Commander Sparkes. H.M.S.Linnet; Com- mander Kingsmill, H.M.S Archer; Comman- der Smith Dorien, H.M.S. Alacrity; and Com. mander W. H. F. Taylor, H.M.S Tamar, Mr. V. Lawford was Judge Advocate.
The prisoner committed the offence after being tried on a charge of theft. He was found guilty, and when this decision was cou municated to him he leaned over the table and struck Captain King Hall on the eh st with .both fists.
A.
When the charge of assault was read over to the prisoner be pleaded guilty and therefore no
evidence was taken.
Prisoner handed' the following statement for the consideration of the Court-To the President and members of this Honourable Court. I humbly appeal for mitigation of the punishment I cannot hope to avoid. I had been brought before Captain King Hall on a charge of theft, of which I was innocent, in spite of the evidence against me. I counted upon my character being cleared of the accusation, but to my horror I was adjudged guilty and sen- tenced to a severe punishment. The shock of being publicly branded as a thief threw me into a sudden fit of passion and I lost all con- trol over myself, but I have no distinct recollec. tion of striking my captain. In respectfully begging the members of this Honourable Court to believe I am heartily sorry and ashamed of the serious offence to which Lave pleaded guilty, I entreat them to take into their merciful consideration (1) that I have been for over six weeks already a prisoner (2), my youth and inexperience, and to grant me a fresh oppor- tunity of regaining my character. I will earnestly endeavour in the future to prove myself grateful for any clemency shown to me, and as an earnest of this can appeal to those under whose charge I have been whilst a prisoner.
•
The Court sentenced the prisoner to twenty four strokes with the birch rod, imprisonment for eighteen months with hard labour, and to be dismissed the service.
THE ROAD ROUND THE ISLAND.
The road round the island, which is to be one of the permanent memorials of the Diamond Jubilee year, is now in a fair way to become an actual fact. Progress cannot be observed by the general public, simply because the work up to the present has consisted solely of surveying. Mr. Hughes, of the Royal Engineers, was detailed to carry out the survey and he com- menced at the Shankiwan end. It is here that the greatest difficulty of defining the line for the continuing road presented itself. It is, manifest of course that a good caringe road must be constructed and to carry out this purpose it was found to be impossible to build a road with an easy gradient near the Lyemoon coast; therefore the existing road branching off to Taitam Tuk will be improved upon and utilized. Already three miles of the road have been surveyed and it is expected that the whole of this preliminary work will be completed in about three months. The road will then probably be divided into two or three sections. estimates of the cost will be made by the Director
for. of Public Works, and tenders called
finished the road will be from 27
THE DOUBLE MURDER IN SHELLEY STREET.
The man charged with murdering a woman and her son in a house in Shelley Street was again charged at the Police Court on 6th Jan, before Hon. H. E. Wodehouse.
I do
Father Torres of the Spanish Procuration, was called: He said-The defendant was a rent collector for the Spanish Procuration and had been in our employ for twenty years. not know why be killed the deceased. As far as I know he had not quarrelled with them.
His Worship asked Inspector Hanson what the witness knew of the case.
Inspector Hanson replied that the witness knew that the prisoner was at one time treated with much favour until he misappropriated Bereial thousand dollars he had collected as reuts. The suggestion was that he was jealous of another man who had superseded him in the Fathers' confidence.
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[January 13, 1898.
but he would also like the defendants to be warned that another similar offence would be most seriously dealt with.
His Worship said that in attending the meeting the defendants bad disobeyed the law of the colony. They asked him to believe they went there to worship, but that was certainly not the case. The law expressly declared the Triad Society to be an unlawful Society. The defendants were not known to be criminals, nor did they look like criminals. They called them. selves chair coolies, which very likely they were. By attending the meeting they had rendered themselves liable to six months' imprisonment, and if they carried on the Society on the mainland they would get into very serious trouble. He intended to inflict a substantial five in nearly all the cases so that they would remember it. The first and second prisoner would be committed for trial, the sixth, who was not present, would be dealt with in a week's time, and the remainder would have to pay $25 or go to gaol for six weeks..
THE BLACK SHEEP OF HONGKONG.
PROPOSAL TO BANISH THEM.
The Justices present were Hon. H. E. Wodehonse (Police Magistrate), Hon. F. H. May (Captain Superintendent of Police), Rev. R. F. Cobbold, Dr. Clark, Messrs. Granville Sharp, C. 8. Sharp, H. Wicking, and W. M. B. Arthur.
The CHAIRMAN said that the Justices ad- journed the application on the last occasion in order that the bona fides of the application might be ascertained with a view to making some enquiry into the character of the applicant.
The result of the enquiry was a report which a sergeant of police had forwarded to the Captain Superintendent of Police.
A special meeting of the Justices of the Peace Witness, coutinuing, said-The defendant was held on 7th Jan, to further consider the ap collected rents for us for about six years. plication of George Henry Schwalm for a pub- About six years ago I discovered that helican's licence for the premises formerly known bad committed defalcations and I had to haud as the Grand Hotel, Nos. 240, 242, and 244 over the collection of rents to somebody else. Queen's Road Central, under the sign of the It had also been the custom to give the prisoner Central Hotel. surplus wine to sell, but about five months ago I left off supplying him with it because he did not pay for it, and I gave the wine to Li Fat, one of the deceased. I am in the habit of buy- ing medicine from a man in Macao, and up till lately I have used the prisoner as an agent between this wan and myself, and I would pay. the money through the prisoner. The last time the man came with the medicine from Macao before the murders were committed was the day before the murders. I paid him by cheque per- sonally. I did so because the people in Macao who supplied the medicine asked me not to pay through the prisoner. "Ever since the defalca- tions I have been losing confidence in the pri- soner. He was a good servit. but I c'uld not trust him in money matters. i hav sometimes thought him a little mad. The deceased Li Fat was the morning of the 14th November he as- my houseboy. On sisted me at mass; which finished at 6 a.n. That was the last time I saw him alive. About two months ago prisoner told him he was going to leave us. He said he was the sole supporter of his family and he thought he could get more money by going up the West River. On more than one occasion lately I have had to tell the prisoner that I was not pleased with him. By bis wagner he has several times of late shown than he was not pleased, and I think the reason was that he was not so much trusted as before, although he has not complained that I have not trusted him He has not actually asked for an increase of wages, but I understood that that was what he wanted. I did not give him an increase. I gave him an increase from $10 to $15 about a year ago.
A ward boy in the Government Civil Hospital said he asked the prisoner why he wished to die. Prisoner said," Uutie that letter round my leg and you will see? The letter was writ- ten in Chinese. He also said he did not know why he committed the crime.
The case was adjourned until the following day, when the prisoner was committed for trial.
THE TRIAD SUCIETY CASE, ·
The case in which thirty-two men were charged with attending a meeting of the Triad Society on the 4th December concluded on 6th January.
The evidence showed that the police raided a house in Yee On Lane and found the prisoners there and all the paraphernalia connected with the meetings of the Triad Society.
At the conclusion of the evidence his Wor- ship asked the defendants if they had anything to say, and one of them denied that the Society was secret; he said it was all "joss" business.
In reply to His Worship Mr. Dennys (Crown Solicitor), who appeared for the prosecution, said he would be satisfied if a fine were inflicted,
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The report, which the Chairman read, gave the applicant's history for the last three years. The record was a very black one.
He was formerly a soldier in the French army
and while stationed in Saigon became acquainted with Mrs. May Yorke, an immoral woman. The couple afterwards went to a brothel in Singapore, but the man got into money difficul- ties and about eighteen months ago the pair ran away from Singapore and-came to Hongkong. They lived in Wyndham Street as husband the man acted as a pimp for the woman, who and wife. Both in Singapore and Hongkong
was engaged as barmaid in the Stag Hotel and afterwards in the Globe Hotel. In May, 1897, Schwalm got employment in the German Con- sulate during the absence on leave of the secre- tary. When the secretary returned there was
no further need for Schwalm's services and he left. He was not possessed of any money.
After reading the report the CHAIRMAN said— Gentlemen, it is with a strong feeling of indig- nation that I read this report to you. Your time and attention have been given up to a deliberate attempt to impose upon you— to take you in. The Ordinance under which the consideration of licences is given to the Justices is 21 of 1886, and there is no doubt that the intention of that Ordinance
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is that the Justices shall make proper enquiry into the character of an applicant for a licence and shall satisfy themselves not only that an applicant is a man of good character but also that he is not a man of straw. He must be a man of substance and of some standing in the colony. The Ordinance requires that before a licence is granted he shall enter into recogniz ances according to the nature of the licence he requires. That recognizance contains the following certificate. We, the undersigned householders, certify that the above-named ap- plicant is a person of good fame and reputation and fit and proper to be licenced to sell intoxi- cating liquors as aforesaid." In this case the names of the proposed sureties were Leung Kwan Shun and Lin Kee, and we heard last week that the condition of their surety was that this man was to get his aerated waters from them if he got his licence. My experience
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