September 12, 1903.]|
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
True the Mohammeden writers tell us that Chinese charitable society established about the after Guchluk's marriage he turned Buddhist, year 1850 by certain inhabitants of the Fan but that may very well have been to escape the Ling village situated in the Colony of Hong- reprobation of the Christians.
kong. (3) In the year 1887 the defendant was Marco, we have seen, applied the title of Pres-appointed the secretary of the said society. ter John to the so-called Emperor" of Si Hia, (4) The duties of the secretary of the said but he apparently forgot that it was the much society are among others to receive the moneys more important monarch of thả Kara Khitai to of the society, to make necessary payments and whom as Prester John, he in Bk. I., Ch. to keep its accounts. (5) In the year 1896 the xlvi., makes the Choreljas pay tribute.
defendant ceased to hold the office of secretary and at that time held moneys belonging to the Bociety to the amount of $3,015.40, which amount he still withholds from the society, and althongh frequent demands have been made to him to hand the said amount over he has
The whole story of Prester John is an illustra- tion of the method in which, even in communities enjoying a considerable amount of civilisation, myth becomes mixed with history. The story of Prester John has more than a mere basis in truth; it is in the majority of its incidents absolutely true, yet the story has been told with such an entire absence of historical prospective, that the tale had almost come down to the level of the wondrous adventures of our nursery hero, Jack of the Beanstalk.
It is not from any falling off in the interest of Marco Polo's further journeys, uor from any lack of importance in the subjects and places treated of that we must now prepare to take our leave of Marco and his charming collaborators, but that the subject is too large to enter on in a notice of this sort. We should, indeed, require as portly a pair of volumes to d senss all the new subjects alone which have arisen since Colonel Yule made the exposition of Marco Polo's travels the work of his mature age. It is not speaking unkindly of M. Cordier himself to say that this conclusion must have been upper- most in his mind when writing his extra notes. The history of Marcos times in the Far East require to be written by a master hand. The trouble hitherto has been that those who knew Chinese seldom know anything else, and were outside the great world of literary criticism, while those who had studied the other phases of the subject were content to take their Chinese from an uncritical generation of professed Sinologues with whom every scrap of writing, provided only it were in Chinese characters, was of equal value.
One subject only, which, as it has been supposed to reflect on the credibility of Polo, I may men- tion. Marco has been upbraided with his omission of the Great Wall in his otherwise graphic des- criptions of the land; and the omission has been made use of to throw discredit on the entire of his work. There is more than one reason for bis not mentioning the wall. In the first place the wall does not occupy in the Chinese mind anything like the importance it assumes in foreign eyes. It is mentioned in the Sz Ki in the ordinary course of the annals, as various portions of it were built. The idea that it was a gigantic work designed and carried out by one man is of far later origin. Another and bearing more closely on Polo's omission, is that at the place
where the travellers must have crossed the line, it is either altogether absent or is a mere petty earthwork, which might have been crossed absolutely without notice: this place must, as shown above, have been in about latitude 100- deg. E. The error arose from insufficient con- sideration of the line taken by the Polos from Kancheo to Kara Korum,
SUPREME COURT.
Monday, 7th September.
IN ORIGINAL JURISDICTION,
BEFORE HIS HONOUR A. G. WISE (PUIBNE JUDGE).
DISPUTE ABOUT CHINESE SOCIETY FUNDS.
A case was called in which Pang Fi Yu (suing on behalf of himself and all the other members of the Nam Hiug Tong) sought to recover from Pang Shin Hon, a sum of $3,015.40 said to belong to the funds of the Nam Hing Tong, a charitable society in the Fan Ling village, New Territory. Mr. T. Morgan Phillips, barrister-at-law (instructed by Mr. M. J. D. Stephens, solicitor), appeared for the plaintiff, and Mr. M. W. Slade, barrister- at-law (instructed by Mr. H. K. Holmes, solicitor), was for the defendant.
neglected and refused to do so. (6) The plain tiff claims th said anoint of $3,015.40 as money received by the defendant for the use of th members of the said Nam Hing Toug. (7) i ho plaintiff also seeks to recover interest ou the said amount from the 7th of March, 1896, till payment or judgment,
Plaintiff in his statement of claim stated (1) The plaintiff is a member of and in May, 1901, was appointed the secretary of the Nam Hing Tong. (2) The Nam Hing Tong is a
In his statement of defence the defendant admit paragraphs 1, 2 and 4 of the statement of claim, but says that the plaintiff was ap- pointed secretary of the Nam Hing Fong for one year only. (2) The defendant wis not in the year 1887 or at any time appointed secretary of the Nam Hing Tong. (3) The defendant has not at any time had any moneys belonging to the Nam Hing Fong in his possession.
In his reply the plaintiff joined issue with the defendant upon his defence,
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the society which they had had very great difficulty in getting from him.
Evidence was then taken, and the Court afterwards adjourned.
Tuesday, 8th September.
IN ORIGINAL JURISDICTION.
BEFORE HIS HONOUR A. G. WISE (PUISNE JUDGE).
DISPUTE ABOUT CHINESE SOCIETY FUNDS.
plaintiff had been concluded.
On the previous day the evidence for the
stated the evidence would be offered to show Mr. Elade in opening the case for the defence that the defendant never was secretary of the Nam Hing Tong. The secretaryship seemed to have gone down in the family from one head of the family to another, and this would be supported by the elders who were alive at the time the matter in dispute came on before eld. rs, too, would say that not only had the the annual meetings of the society. These
but that the funds of the society had been kept defendant never been secretary of the society with the Kwong Hing shop which failed, and when the failure took place the accounts of the shop and of the society were investigated by the elders who came to the conclusion that the only thing they could do was to save as much out of the wreck as possible and set the debts owing by members of the society to the shop against the money owed by the shop. Accor dingly the balance was wiped out. During the tenure of the office of secretary by the blind mau, kept by the defendant as accountant, and after Pang On Yo, the books of the society were Pang On Yo's death he, simply as an oblige. ment to the other members of the family who were in the shop, continued to do the work until a few months before the shop failed. When Pang On Yo died the secretaryship was actually taken over by the head of the family who succeeded him, the elder brother of the eldest brother of the defendant, and it was during his tenure of office that the shop came to grief and then he was succeeded by his
second brother.
Mr. Morgan Phillips in opening the case said that upon the pleadings the issue seemed to be whether in 1887 or at any time the defendant was secretary of this society and, if he were such secretary, had he the moueys of the society in his possession which he did not hand over. The Nam Hiog Tong Society was established about the year 1852 by three inhabitants of the Fu Ling village, named Pang, and all clansmen. Their descendants had become mem- bers and carried on this society until the present day. It was an ordinary benevolent and charit- able society, the funds of which were used for the purposes of education, loans and charitable purposes, such as the distribution of pork about the China New Year and so forth. A secretary of the society was appointed, and in the early days, he believed, the secretary was supposed to act for about ten years if he was an able man and Evidence was then called for the defence. carried on the business of the society properly. The elders of the village stated in effect that In 1876 one Paug On Yo became secretary and the Kwong Hing shop-which the defendant acted in that capacity until the year of his death, now owned under a different name-had pre- 1887. Pang On Yo had th misfortune to beviously had the management of the funds of blind and so of course h caried on the business the Nam Hing Toug Society and that when an under very great difficulty, but his relative- account was rendered there was a balance, it his nephew, counsel thought the defendant was true, of $3,000 odd, but that that was Pang Shin Hon, acted for his blind re-
written off in the books of the society as a set- lative and really did the duties of the off against some debts which certain members secretaryship during that time. After Pang of the society owed the shop. The three elders On Yo died, at the annual meeting of the of the village who were examined all positively members of the society in 1888 the defendant
wore that the defendant had nothing whatever was appointed secretary in his place and he
to do with the management of the funds of the acted as, secretary from that time till 1896. society and never was at any time secretary of The books of the society during all that time the society. were kept in the handwriting of the defendant. Each year at the annual meeting a balance was arrived at. Evidence would be given to show
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that from 1888 till 1896 there was a balance each year in favour of the Society, and the defendant was asked at the annual meetings to invest these balinces for the society in land and he said from time to time that he would do so and when he saw a suitable plot of land he would invest the bal nces in that way. In 1896 at the anuual meeting it was shown that there was a balance in favour of the society of about the amount claimed--1,900 taels, so many mace and canda. rins and 381,000 cash. Defendant was asked if he had invested this money and he said no, and said moreover that he had no money; it was gone; he bad used it all and there was no money to invest in land. Then the defendant's brother Pang Wing Kwok was temporarily appointed secretary, he being supposed to be a man who might be able to get this money from his brother. He was instructed accordingly, but did not do so, and his selection indeed minst have been a very unfortunate one, because subsequently he was brought before that Court on a claim for $800 belonging to the Nam Hing Tong, and he admitted his liability and served 12 months in Victoria Gaol. Thon in May, 1901, plaintiff was appointed secretary and was instructed to get this money from the defendant, who also held several title-deeds for land belonging to
When the case was closed for the defence, Mr. Morgan Phillips did not reply, but simply reLarked that it was impossible for him to contest the evidence for the defendant.
His Lordship gave judgment for the defend- ant with costs.
The Court adjourned.
Thursday, 10th September.
In ORIGINAL JURISDICTION.
BEFORE HIS HONOUR A. G. WISE (PUISNE JUDGE).
PARTNERSHIP ACTION.
A case was called, Wong Wa Po v. Tang Kai Cheung, in which the plaintiff sought to prove that defendant was a partner in the Wing Chan firm, 22, Circular Pathway, the cise arising out of a judgment given on 29th May for $1,500. A claim had been heard before the Land Court in respect of property sold by the defendant to the plaintiff and during the hearing of that claim, it was alleged, defendant described himself to the Land Court as being the master of the Wing Chan shop.
Mr. T. Morgan Phillips, barrister-at-law (instructed by Mr. P. W. Goldring of Messrs. Deaçou & Hastings, solicitors), was for
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