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was made because the ship was found to be dangerously close to the Middle Rock, and that she did not go enough under her port to clear the reef. The court is of opinion that the ship was not navigated with proper and seaman-like care, and that the captain neglected to verify the position of the ship from time to time. We therefore find that the damage to the ship was caused by the wrongful act of the master. We therefore suspend his certificate for one month from this date. We recommend that if he so desires a first mate's certificate be issued to him during the suspension of his master's certificate. Given under our hands at Victoria, Hongkong, this fourth day of May, 1898. R. Murray Rumsey, president; R. J. Rogers, staff commander, R.N.; Inman Sealby; W. A. Rendle; J Williamson.
THE SEIZURe of forged
NOTES.
May 7, 1898.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
total face value of the notes discovered must nago decrease, is to be attributed to the number reach about $252,000, the value given by the of small vessels which, since the opening of the prisoner Grosse. As already stated prisoners. West River in June last, have been plying on are believed to have spent three weeks in Co- that route, and increasing the number of entries lombo, where they purchased large quantities of and clearances under the heading of "River jewellery, lace, etc., and in this connection it Steamers" without a proportionate increase of may be noted that an unfortunate chetty is in tonnage. British ocean-going steamers alone custody in Penang for having counterfeit for the year show a decrease of 201 entries of notes in his possession, which it is sup- | 275,360 tons. posed he may have come by bonestly enough, but which led to his arrest when he tried to exchange them. It is further stated that a number of the notes in question were in circulation ou board the steamer Preussen, and yesterday one of the passengers, apparently unwittingly, effected some small purchases in
Messrs. Katz Bros. with a note which the Bank have since confiscated as a forgery. This morn. ing it was also rumoured that a further sum of BANK bogus notes, amounting in all to over $6,000,
CLEVER REPRODUCTIONS OF THE ISSUE
OF A HONGKONG BANK.
Referring to the extensive seizure at Singa- pore of forged bank notes, the Singapore Free Press of April 28th says :--
had been discovered hidden in cue of the beds of the cabin occupied by Grosse and Schultz, but as a careful search was made of the room yesterday this may point to the fact that there who were anxions to get rid of their notes. are still people on board belonging to the gang
THE ACCUSED BEFORE THE MAGISTRATE,
The Strait Times of April 28th says:- The existence of a continental "long" firm which appears to have been doing a very ex-
Heinrich Grosse and George Schultz were tensive business in forged Hongkong and charged before Mr. Wolferstan this morning with having tried yesterday to exchange with Shanghai bank-notes was brought to light
a Kling money-changer, forged Hougkong and yesterday, two arrests being made on board the steamer Preussen on a charge of being found Shanghai Bank notes to the value of $2,550. in possession of counterfeit notes. One of the had come from Colombo on board the Preussen. Inspector Bourne explained that the prisoners passengers named Heuri Grosse, who it is said made himself particularly pleasant to all the
When she arrived yesterday, they at once com- ladies on board on the way out, and was
menced operations, and obtained £236 in gold, in exchange for the $2,550 worth of notes. The always ready to order unlimited quanti- money-changer then became suspicions and sent ties of champagne, yesterday offered &
the notes to the bank where they were pronounced money changer on board a large sum in
forgeries. The defendants were sent for, and notes in exchange for cash. The money detained at the bank until the arrival of the changer was unable to undertake so big an operation, and it was arranged that Grosse police, when they were given into custody. On searching their cabins on the steamer, Inspector should go to a money changer's place in Kling: Bourne found forged notes purporting to be of street. This he did later in the day and offered
the value of 8300,000. H. Grosse also banded 26 notes of $50 each and 50 uotes of $25 each, a
him a sum of $1,000 in similar notes. Each total of $2,550, with a request for change. prisoner was found in possession of a machine After some haggling the price was agreed upon, for impressing and numbering notes, such and the Kling handed over 236 sovereigus. notes had been freely circulated in Colombo, Bhortly afterwards he became tormented with
and it was feared, in Penang. The accused bad doubts as to the genuineness of the notes and
been in Colombo for three weeks and had, ap- took some of them to the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, who declared them to be for-parently, bought a large quantity of jewellery geries. Grosse was sent for, and detained until Inspector Bourne arrived. The only account he gave as to how the notes
came into his possession was
that he had bought them of
8 money changer in Colombo. Permission was then obtained from the Consul to search the ship, and it was there found that Grosse had travelled from Germany in company with a man named Schultz, and that they had stayed three weeks in Colom bo, Schultz and Grosse sharing the same cabin. Search was made of all the baggage belonging to Grosse, but nothing was found, until Inspec- tor Bourne asked for a small trunk with a patent spring lock to be opened. Grosse immediately protested, stoutly denied that it belonged to him, and challenged the right of the detectives to interfere with it, as it belonged to his cabin mate Schultz. The latter was immediately sent for, and on being shown the box at once denied all knowledge of it. Grosse was accordingly asked to produce his keys, and eventually the box was opened, when it was seen to contain
assorted bundles of notes laid flat in the box in piles of about $1,000 each. A suspicious more. ment on the part of Schultz led the detectives to search him for arms, and a loaded revolver was found in his possession, a revolver not loaded being taken from Grosse. The two men were then arrested, and taken ashore, this being about 5-30 last evening. A further search was made, and in addition to the bogus notes two stamping machines for numbering notes conse- cutively and other counterfeiting implements were discovered, together with a large sum in gold and Bank of England notes. All the supposed Hongkong and Shanghai notes
are
clever reproductions of the issue of the Hongkong branch, every detail down to the signatures, being reproduced; and it is curious to speculate what might have happened had the gang succeeded in reaching Amoy, Swatow or Woosung, where the sham notes would have found a ready currency. In all the
there. Presumably, if notes were circulated there they would be Ceylon Government notes, Several were passed yesterday at the Adelphi Hotel. The hearing of the case was postponed till Thursday, the 5th proximo.
THE HARBOUR MASTER'S REPORT.
The report for 1897 of Hon. R. Murray Rumsey, Harbour Master, is published in Saturday's Gazette, from which we make the following extracts:-
The total tonnage entering and clearing amounted to 15,938,174 tons being a decrease compared with 1896 of 577,779 tons. There were 38,713 arrivals of 7,968,606 tons, and 38,580 departures of 7,969,568 tous. Of British ocean-going tonnage 2,439.074 tons entered and 2,444,971 tous cleared. Of River Steamers 1,694,077 tons entered and 1,690,644 tons cleared, making a grand total of British tonnage of 4,133,151 entering and 4,135,615 clearing. Of Foreign ocean-going tonnage 1,930,489 tons entered and 1,925,344 tons cleared. Of junks in Foreign trade 1,718,739 tons entered and 1,722,556 cleared. Of junks in local trade 186,227 tons entered and 186,053 cleared.
British ocean-going tonnage therefore re- presented 30.7 per cent. River tonnage re- presented 21.2 per cent. Foreign ocean-going tonnage represented 24.2 per cent. Junk ton- nage (Foreign trade) represented 21.6 per cent. Junk tonnage (local trade) represented 2.3 per cent.
4,618 steamers, 356 sailing vessels, and 28,989 junks in foreign trade entered during the year, giving a daily average of 93 vessels as against 94 in 1896. For European-constructed vessels the average daily entry would be 13.63 as against 12.81 in 1896, and of the steamers arriving 68.25 per cent, were British.
The above (statement a statement given in tabular form) shows an increase of 329 British ships and a decrease of 189,528 British tons. This numerical increase, together with a ton-
Sailing ships show a numerical increase for the year of 209 entries, but a tonnage increase of only 13,460 tons; under this heading are com- prised the lorchas and lighters which were towed up the West River, and the remark above applies in the case of these vessels also.
In the case of Foreign shipping, that under the Japanese flag has been more than doubled, having increased from 146,315 tons to 299,658 tons.
German shipping shows a decrease of 41,000 tons; the remainder, generally, show more or less substantial increases.
The actual number of ships of European construction-exclusive of River steamers- which entered the port in 1897, was 593, being 320 British and 273 Foreign. In the previons year the numbers were 325 British and 254 Foreign.
The 320 British ships carried 2,264 British officers and 47 foreigners as follows:-British, 2,264; Germans, 8; Americans, 20; Danes, 5; Swedes, 4; Austrian, 1, Portuguese, 2; Nor- weigians, 7. The proportion of foreigners was therefore 2 per cent., comprising 7 nationalities, ships. In one case, that of the Fale of Doon, an increase of 4 per cent. with fewer British
arriving in August, from Cardiff, a German was in command.
The 273 foreign ships carried 1,689 officers, of whom 193 were British, as follows:-Japan 122; Chinese, 64 French, 7. The proportion of Britishers in foreign vessels was therefore 10.8 per cent., distributed under three different heads, a decrease on 1896 of 1.2 per cent with an increase of 19 foreign ships (or 7 per cent.), Chinese vessels carrying only about 3
per cent. as against nearly 6 per cent. last year.
Of the crews of the British vessels 19.9 per cent. were Britishers, 1.1 per cent. other Euro- peau, 79.0 per cent. Asiatics.
Of the crews of Foreign vessels 2.0 per cent. were Britishers, 28.3 per cent. other Europeans, 69.7 per cent. Asiatics.
Taking the total of entries and departures, the average crew for British ships was 53, of which 21 per cent. were Europerans, and for Foreign ships 45 (8 per cent. less than the British ships) of which 30.3 per cent. were Europeans.
TRADE,
The first half of 1897 shewed a decrease over the corresponding period of 1896 of 358,660 tons of rice imported. The second half-year did little to improve matters, and the year closed with a falling off of over 343,000 tons compared with the already diminished crop of 1896. To this decrease must in a great measure be again attributed the reduction in the figures relating to the British-ocean-going vessels (this trade being chiefly carried in British bottoms), as well as in the junk trade, which is a reflec- tion of the "ocean-going" trade.
Most of the other imports reported, however, show an increase for the year, and the total decrease is reduced to 48,828 tons. We thus get a decrease of 135,112 tons of European con- structed shipping, with a decrease import re- turn of 48,828 tons of cargo.
Of exports, a decrease of 103,685 tons of European-constructed shipping reported a de- creased export of 476,423 tons of cargo.
The transit returns give an increase of 7,062 tons of cargo.
A review of the trade of the port for the year is obtained, as in 1896, by a classification -Class I.— of returns I. and II. as follows :— Vessels that trade to and from Europe and dis- tant countries, such as Canada, Cape of Good Hopé, Continent of Europe, Great Bri- tain, Mauritius, Sandwich Islands, South America, United States. Class II.-Vessels that trade to and from the less distant countries, such as Australia and New Zealand, India and Straits Settlements, Japan, Java and Indian Archipelago, North and South Pacific, Russin in Asia. Class III.
-Vessels that trade on the Coast of China,
and to and from adjacent countries, such as North Borneo, Coast of China, Cochin-China.
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