248
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
ber-of discharged soldiers were placed on bonril. The latter were entitled to a passage back to the States under reasonable condi-" tions of hygiene and comfort. Having received their discharge they were, as they themselves expressed it, no longer soldiers but simple citizens. To speak of these men as insubordinate soldiers is therefore a misuse of terms. They were ordinary pas sengers with as clear a right to grumble as first class passengers on an ordinary mail steamer. And they were apparently treated ordinary passengers by the authorities board, for one of their complaints was there were no regular inspections of accommodation and no proper organi- of the daily routine. The Kansas still belonging to the army, were more less looked after by their officers in the ordinary course, but the discharged men had no officers to look after them, and we believe it to be a fact that they had very good cause of complaint.
In
1September 23, 1899.
SUPREME COURT.
18th September.
“CRIMINAL SESSIONS.
BEFOEL THE HON. W. MEIGH GOODMAN (ACTING CHIEf Justice);
A WITNESS CHARGED WITH
PERJURY. TRANS Tsang Lam Kan was charged with perjury, He pleaded not guilty.
"largely perpetrated in this Colony and “the reasou more people have not been prosecuted is the difficulty of bringing "home the guilt to the real offenders." the present case the proof was so clear that the defendant pleaded guilty to three out of the five counts in the indictment, and although he afterwards tried to plead in mitigation that he was absent at the time the fraudulent labels were used in his shop the plea does not carry much weight in the THE RECENT UN LOONG MURDER TRIAL absence of any proof of its truth. It ap pears from a case cited by the Acting Chief Justice in his judgment that the master of an; establishment even if not present can be held criminally responsible for trade mark frauds committed in his absence, but in the present case there is no reason to suppose. that LI PAK is suffering vicariously for The Hon. H. E. Pollock (Acting Attorney faults committed by his subordinates with General), instructed by Mr. Bowley (Acting out his knowledge or approval. The sen-Crown Solicitor), appeared for the prosecu- tence of six months' hard labour and pay- ment of the costs of the prosecution are calculated to have a deterrent effect upon other wrongdoers of a like kind. It may be remembered that a conviction for arson obtained by the police a few years ago caused a marked diminution in the number of suspicious fires, and the present convic- tion for fraudulent dealings in respect of trade marks will no doubt result, for a time
Ruchwaldy, fugene Bernheim, Thomas Skip The jurors were Messrs. H. Ehmer, Lindsay ner, William Purcell, F. Rohrs, and J. Macle hose.
tion.
།འདན་དུ་
Mr. Pollock said the defendant gave evidence Ng Tung, and Tai Tak Lop for the murder of at the trial of three men named Ng Ki Cheung,
a man called Cheng Hing Tsi, alias Chang Kwai Shu Tsoi, and a very material question in that case was as to whether Ng Ki Cheung and Ng Tung were present somewhere about mid- night on the 17th April on the bank of is creek about a third of a mile from Un Loong in the New Territory. The evidence for the
It would have been better, no doubt, if the grievances of the men had been allowed to remain a matter between themselves and their own Government. Here, however, the second mistake was made. If the status of troopship had been claimed for the vessel through the usual channels upon her arrival she would no doubt have been given a berth in the man-of-war auchor- at all events, in lessening abuses of that prosecution in that case was to the effect that
description also.
THE NEW KOWLOON CUSTOMS,
age and have been exempted from all inter- ference, on the part of the local officials. No such claim, however, was put forward until after the difficulty had arisen. The vessel entered in the usual way as an
[Daily Press 20th September] ordinary British merchantman and in the It would have been more seemly, we think, me way applied for her clearance. Under if the name of the Kowloon Customs had these circumstances the Harbour Master undergone a more complete change than had no option but to apply British law. It merely making it the "New Kowloon Cus-
not for Captain RUMSEY to play fast and
toms, China has now nothing more to do Joose with the Merchant Shipping Act and with Kowloon, and in the designation of the ay, he will apply its provisions in some Customs that name might well be dropped ases and not in others. If any exemption is entirely. The establishment might have to be made in favour of a particular vessel taken the name of the principal of the new it is clearly a matter for the consideration stations, or a new name altogether might and decision of the Government and not for have been coined, but it is decidedly inap an executive officer whose duty it is to ad-propriate that the selection should fall upon minister the law as he finds it.. Captain BUMBET's action in the matter appears to have been absolutely correct, and the re- sponsibility for the unfortunate chapter of accidents cannot therefore be thrown upon him. And a chapter of accidents the series of events may properly be termed. The United States have no idea of dealing illiberally or hardly with their troops, but quite the contrary, the men being treated usually on a generous scale, and the authorities at Manila presum ably thought they were doing the best thing for the Tartar's men in giving them a passage home at the earliest opportunity. Unfortunately, either through inexperience or inadvertence, the questions of over- crowding and of organisation were over- looked. The British Government on its part could certainly have no wish to interfere with the arrangements of a troopship under charter to a friendly Power, but the simple precaution of claiming the status of a Broopship was also unfortunately overlooked.
- TRADE MARK FRAUDS.
(Daily Press, 22nd September.) exemplary sentence passed by the Chief Justice on LI PAK, convicted Criminal Bessions of forging the
a certain brand of e will, it is to be hoped, salutary effect. As the Chief remarked There can be little ubt that frauds on trade marks ure
name derived from a place now in British territory. While holding that the Hong kong Government may reasonably and equitably afford China some assistance in the protection of her revenue against the smuggling conducted from this colony, we dition of that assistance that the would suggest that it should be made a con- "Kowloon" should be entirely dropped in the future designation of the Customis stations in order that no confusion may be created in the Chinese mind as to where the sovereignty over the opposite peninsula lies.
SERIOUS FIRE AT KOBE
THE
name
“HIOGO NEWS" OFFICE
DESTROYED,
[SPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE DAILY PRESS."]
Kobe, 21st September.
A serious fire has occurred here." Amongst the property involved is the offles of the Hiogo Evening News, which has been totally des. troyed.
"
THE ARGYLL" REFLOATED.
[SPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE "DAILY PRESS."]
Shanghai, 19th September. A telegram from Kobe announces the refloat ing of the Argyll by the Hermione at six o'clock to-night.
(The Argyll was stranded broadside on dur- ing a severe typhoon which occurred at Köbe on the 15th August, Ed. D. P.]
these two men were present at the crook side somewhere about midnight on the 17th April, on which occasion Chang Kwai Shu Tsoi was barbarously murdered, he being at the time enclosed in a pig crate; and while in that helpless condition being shot at by somebody and afterwards thrown into the creek. It was part of the case for the prosecn- tion that a boat was found to convey the three men in the pig erates out to ses. The boatman was told in the first instance that he was wanted to take ont some pigs, and when he came and saw that the crates contained men he refused away: At the time of the murder trial the police to have anything to do with them and rowed had not been able to get hold of the boatman whose boat was engaged, and it occurred to the friends of these two men that it would be good thing to get hold of a man who was not the boatman and induce him to impersonate him and to swear that Ng Ki Cheung and Ng Tung Accordingly the defendant came forward at the were not present on the occasion in question. trial, when he swore that he was the boatman, that he knew Ng Ki Cheung and Ng Tang, and that they were not present. He further said that a witness named Kwong Pui Chi,
who gave evidence to the effect that they were present, was not there himself. Since come across the real then the police had boatman and he and two of his fokies would be called to give evidence, In conclusion Mr. Pollock said that when charged at the Police Station the defendant admitted the charge. saying that he was paid to say what he did say, and he pleaded guilty when brought up at the Magistracy.
The evidence for the prosecution was then called.
When asked if he had anything to say the - defendant said his boat was engaged by Lam Pak Tam's foki. He was told that it was wanted to carry pigs, but when he saw that it was wanted to take away some men who were in pig crates he refused to carry them and rowed away. He did not see either Ng Ki Cheung or Ng Tung at the creek.
The jury found the defendant guilty. His Lordship deferred sentence.
ANOTHER SEQUEL TO THE UN LOONG MURDERS.
There was still another case arising out of the Un Loong murders, Ng Ngai being charged
with subornation of perjury. He pleaded guilty remarking, “I was asked to go home and get witnesses. I was asked to go home and get a boatman. I ask your lordship to deal mercifully with me."
His Lordship said he should accept the plea, as the man had made a formal statement, which was written down and signed by himself, and in this statement he said that the clerk told him to
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