*
November 30, 1903.]
at the time, too, into the Treasury; otherwise his supply would have been cut off.
His Lordship-I am a fellow victim with you. They sent me a bill for $30 for water when there was no water in the house at all.
Plaintiff-But my meter registered it. His Lordship-Yes, of course the meter will register it. My meter registered it. And every time the wind blew from the north-east it registered about 1,000 feet more water. I wrote to the Government and refused to pay.
Plaintiff I could not do that.
His Lordship-No, of course, you are only the tenant.
Cross-examined-Plaintiff carried on business as an ærated water manufacturer. He asked for the meter to be put in. The Government insisted on meters being put into aerated water factories.
Mr. Ewens argued that as plaintiff had paid the money to the Treasury and not to the defendant he oculd not recover from the de- fendant.
His Lordship took the same view, and, re- marking that plaintiff had a case against the Treasury, but not against the defendant, gave judgment for the defendant with costs.
The Court afterwards adjourned.
Friday, 27th November.
IN SUMMARY JURISDICTION.
BEFORE HIS HONOUR A. G. WISE (PUISNE JUDGE).
A MONEY-LENDING FAMILY.
Leung Kwok San, a well-dresse! young Chinese, sued a Portuguese resident for $13 due on promissory notes. Mr. H. K. Holmes, solicitor, appeared for the plaintiff.
Mr. F. I. d' Almada e Castro, defendant's solicitor, produced a document showing that interest at the rate of $25 per month had been paid to the plaintiff's father.
His Lordship-Who is his father? Mr. d'Almada-Leung Chung.
His Lordship-Oh, my old friend. How many more sons has he? I have had several of them before me in these cases before.
The plaintiff was called. His Lordship-How many
have you got ?
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
403
The CHAIRMAN proposed that the report | ACROSS THE NEW TERRITORY. and accounts be adopted and passed.
Mr. CHIN CHUNG How seconded, and the motion was carried.
Capt. CLARK proposed, and Mr. J. A. Carvalho seconded, that Mr. Chau Siu Ki be re-elected to this committee.
The motion was agreed to.
Mr. the the
Mr. TAM HING Po proposed that FRANCISCO TSE YAT be invited to fill vacancy on the committee caused by retirement of Mr. Liao Tae San.
Mr. KWAN FONG KUK seconded, and the motion was agreed to.
On the motion of the CHAIRMAN, seconded by Mr. J. W. Kɛw, Mr. W. Hutton Potts was re-elected auditor.
The CHAIRMAN-Dividend warrants will be issued to-morrow and sharebolders are requested to apply at the office for same. Gentlemen, I thank you for your attendance.
Capt. CLARK proposed a vote of thanks to the general manager and the consulting com- mittee for the satisfactory manner in which the accounts had been drawn up and the business carried on during the past year. (Hear, hear),
Mr. KEW acknowledged the vote of thanks, and the meeting ended.
CHINA TRADERS' INSURANCE CO., LD,
The accounts of the above company, the report of which we published last week, are as follows:-
ABSETS.
106,07.1,04
0.
[BY AN OCCASIONAL VISITOR.]
Three old veterans of the New Territory foregathered the other day, and in their com pany was an unsophisticated fourth who listen- ed with awe to the weird tales they told about the early days when that delectable country was opened up by the British-tales of carbine and slaughter, camp and battle, captures of banners from the enemy-told with all the pituresqueness and vividness of language of the old campaigner who relates his adventures so often that even he begins to believe them to be true. It was in a lull of the fast-flowing narrative that the stranger interpolated, "And now, I suppose, you three could write a book worth reading, about these days ?" The oldest veteran replied. “Aye," he said, “but I'm feart the hero would be · Gaelic,' and 'Girl Brand' the heroine!" To-day
"Girl
Brand" and "Gaelic" are as popular as ever in the New Territory.
Dwellers in that country have other charao- teristics beside. I remember that
once in the course of my travels in pursuit of game there I saw, in the early morning, looming large among the paddy a great figure of A man on horseback. Diokens tells somewhere that on one occasion in the London slums he met the smallest girl he ever saw carrying the biggest baby he ever clapped This horseman was the biggest man eyes on.
ever saw, riding the smallest pony I ever shanced across. We exchanged flask-bottoms, and he told me he was going out to keep an appointment to have tiffin at one of the Customa stations only about 30 miles away. Over there they lose 726,673,04
all perception as to dia. tance, A man will tell you innocence that the place to which you want to go is only, say, three hours away. "Three hours away means anything in Ire- land when applied to distance (the Irish not being so particular as the ancient Israelites who correctly computed lineal measurement by the day's journey), but once start on the three- hour's journey of the New Territory man and you find the Irish mile dwindles into insignific-
Cash in hand
53,046.52 Fixed deposits with banks in Hongkong 350,000.00 Invested in mortgages of properties:-
In Hongkong..... $620,000,00 In Shanghai Bouds of Chinese Imperial Government Loan, 1886, 122 bonds at Tls. 250— Is. 3,500. Hongkong and Kowloon Wharf and Go.
down Co., Limited, debentures. Shanghai Waterworks Co., Limited, de-
bentures
London branch :-
Cash in hand and in course
of collection
$104,551.29
Indian Government securi-
ties
more brothers
Console
364,726.25 49,250.00
Plaintiff--Two elder brothers and some two or three years old. (Laughter.)
your
His Lordship gave judgment for $5 a month and remarked to the plaintiff--Tell father I don't want to see any more of his sons here, not even the two-year-olds.
THE HONGKONG STEAM WATER- BOAT CO., LIMITED.
YEARLY MEETING.
The third ordinary yearly meeting of share. holders in the above Company was held at the Company's Office, 37, Connaught Road Central, on the 24th inst. Those present were:-Mr. Chau Bin Ki (chairman), Capt. Clark, Messrs. J. A. Carvalho, Chin Chung How, Kwan Fong Kuk, Tam Hing Po, and J. W. Kew (manager).
The CHAIRMAN said-Gentlemen,-The re- port and accounts having been in your hands for some time, I will with your permission take them as read I can hardly add anything to the report and have no doubt that the figures must commend themselves to you, and I hope that our current year will be at least equally as good. The new boat which has been added to our fleet has been in service only three months, so that in consequence of this addi. tion, I have every reason to expect that our next balance sheet will show even better results. You will also have observed from this report, that we have continued the policy of writing down the Company's property, and good-will in particular, which I think proves the soundness of our concern, as it is not often nor can it be expected that a Company can practically wipe out the item under this head in the third year of its existence. With these few remarks, I will move the adoption of the report and accounts, but before doing so, I shall be pleased to answer any questions which shareholders may wish to ask.
There were no questions.
Fixed deposits with banks 330,000.00 Leasehold property, 73 Corn-
hill
Australasian branches:
25,000.00
Cash in hand. in course of collection,
and on fired deposit
Shanghai branch:-
Cash in hand, in course of collection,
and on fixed deposit
Yokohama branch:
Cash in hand, in course of collection,
and on fixed deposit
Interest acorned, but not yet payable ..... Furniture at head office and branches. Sundry debtors
LIABILITIES
$2,000,000.00
Capital sabsoribed Reserve fund
Paid up $25 on 24,000 shares.
Dividends outstanding... Exchange finctuation account Reinsurance fund Underwriting suspense account Bundry creditors Balance of working account
To losses
WORKING ACCOUNT.
To charges, survey fees, &c.
39,321.19
150,000.00
5,479.45
873,527.54
149,818.04
$ 0.
600,000.00
13,463.53 151,992.40
ance.
1
in utmost
I was one of a party who recently tramped across the peninsula from Shamohua River "on the Deep Bay side to Taipo on the East side. As the crow flies the distance is only some eight miles; following the rugged path the traveller covers more than ten. And so rugged is the road, so full of obstacles, pitfalls and morasses, that to traverse it requires as much physical 86,608.20❘ exertion as twelve miles on a level thoroughfare. We had as a guide a long-legged New Terri- 46,891.51 torian who took us along at such a rate of speed 5,849.87 that we hardly had time to observe the singular 7,650.32 beauty of the country. On the journey from 47,079.63
Samchun to Taipo one pass:8 across two broad valleys with a gentle, wooded upland between and $2,544,275.31
a grizzled mountain range dividing them from Too Harbour, a whose head sits Taipo. At some places in the twin valleys the paddy was still green, in others golden; but the larger area 900,000.00 of the plain was shorn of its crop, which stood in sheaves upon the stubble or lay in grain upon 3:2,138.39 the threshing floors scattered through the 45,366.30 fields. The Hakka women, in their curious 18,338.31 headgear, turned to gaze stolidly at our swiftly 491,976.38
moving party-as stolidly almost as the water- buffaloes that raised their heads from pastur- $2,544,275.31
with their eyes in ing and followed 13
It is a primitive method mute astonishment. of threshing the Chinese follow. There 1,060,207.69 is a wide basket upon the edge of which the 225,186.60 | sheaf is beaten and into which falls the grain;
a shield of matting at the back prevents the 19,352.77 46,367.51 rice from flying beyond the farther edge of the 401,976.88 receptacle.
As we progressed along the uneven track we $1,843,151.04 observed on various roads running parallel and at angles to our own occasional Chinese horse- 1,515,874.72 men, bound, we learned, for a neighbouring 108,502,23 village where high festival was to be held. One 15.00 horseman we overtook. He was not one of these, however. He turned out to be a land- owner bound for Taipo to see our Magistrate about some claim of land. His was a picturesque figure, with his bronzed face deeply shadowed $990,000.00 under an immense straw sun-hat, tärned up at the 900,000,000 | «ides and bound under his chin bya black velvet
To directors' and auditors' fees at head
office and branches
To exchange To balance
By premis, less re-insurances, return pro-,
mia and commissions By interest
By transfer fees.....
0.
By amount brought forward from last year 218,669.09
$1,849,151.04
RESERVE FUND.
To balance on 31st October By balance on 30th Sepember
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