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aud swords. and made quite a clean sweep of the destroying all the placo, paling dwn and matsheds and stalls.
CHINESE POLITICA.
It is said in official circle that His Excell ncy Shum Chon Hün who hitherto has been acting Vicer y of Kwangtung and Kwaugsi for the last three years, is now by an Imperial order confirmed in his post, because of his success in Some of suppressing the Kwangsi rebellion. the mandarins that have b en deg aded by him, are o lo re-instated in their positions, the prov ncial govern r, Cheang, having again sent in his resignation of the governorship.
FAINT-HEARTED POLICE.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
Since the trouble which gave rise to the strike and rioting among the shopkeekers in Sop Pat Pa street on account of house rent, there has | been no police vigilance in that place. Conse- que tly robb ry is of daily oc urrence, ani is not considered safe enough for people to walk about there. The shopkeepers have made arrangements to employ a number of men to watch the premises for their p otection
SUPREME COURT.
Friday, 10th February.
IN SUMMARY JURISDICTION. BEFORE HIS HONOUR MR. T. SERCOMBE SMITH (PUISNF JUDGE.)
DEUTSCH ASIATISCHE BANK Y. THE WAI BHING HING BANK.
The hearing of this a tion was continuel. The plint clamed from the defendants damage suffered b. reason of the breach by the d. fend nts of a contract dated 4th October 1904, made between the plaintiffs and the defendan's, n'hereby the defendants agriel to purchase from the plaintiffs a draft on London payable on demand for the sum of £2,000 ster- line at exchange 1s 9 7/8d and which sa d the 30th contract was to be completed on
· 1904. November
he defendants failed due date to complete their purchase on and the plaintiffs allege that they have acco dingly suffered damages to the extent of $785.85 by the defendants' alleged breach of contract. i
Mr. H. E. Poll ck. K.C.. inst ucted by Mr. H. J. Gedge (of Messrs. Johson Stokes and Master) appeare for the plaintiffs; Mr. N Fe rers, instructed by Mr. P. W. Goldr`ng (of for the G. K. H. Brutton's office) Mr defendants.
common
a ve y
remote
All evidence having been co cluded Mr. Ferrers addressed the court for the defence, He submitted that the transaction in question was simply a deal in differences – a gamble- and for that res n alone. plaintiff bank was recover any d mages. By not entitled to
law a wager against the public It hal policy was not a leg. transaction. Teen held that a wager on the life of N poleon, was again it the public interest. Nap leo. might have been murdered, it was sog i gested, and though this was reason it was considered sufficie..t A wager a to what would be the sex of a child had been held to be against the public interests on the grounds of is being an indecent wager, Another as to what would be the amount of the public revenne was held to be illegal bec as it led to improper discus-ions and was contrary to the public policy. One judge in dealing with a case of this sort had raid that the courts had gone far enough in encouraging improper wagers, which were contrary to the public policy.
Bis Hodour-This wager is contrary to the policy of your bank (, aughter).
Mr. Ferrers-My bank does not now exist; but it certainly was a wager against the public and was therefore bad. prevent stock jobbing.
There is a statute to
Honour-George or William ?
Mr. Ferrers- George, but it is still law and has been applied to recent cases, The statuta does not men ion gambling in excha ge beranse in those days they could not forese such a thing.
His l'ohour-That sia'ute has been repoale1. Mr Ferrers-Yes, but that fact does not effect its applicability to a ca e in this colony.
You must apply the old law in those cases which the local legislature does not provide for.
Mr. Pollock-That is the Stock Jobbing Act. Mr. Ferrer-It includes all wagers which affect the pubic securities of the country, and likewise the credit of the Government of the country. It is re-fectly compe'eut to gambl ishares-Docks. Sugars, etc.-but a t'ogamble in ways which affect the credit of the country, such as tuis gambling for instanc, which is calculate to reduce in value the currency of
the country. There cn be no greater
as
its thin set to noon try
currency and therefore this tr naaction would b mischievous. You cannot say that pounds of the or. dollars, the sterling currency sonutry, do not constituta public s curity, They do, and a e the efor most important to the country. They cannot have a fixed value unless the ollar and pound are both on a fixed basis. As they are not, this gambling has a tendency to depreciate consols.
Mr. Pollock The act to which you are re- frring was n cted at the time of the Suh Sea Buble, and in consequence of the Suth Sea Bubble.
to
M. Ferrer proceeded to quo e authority. that con racts for compounding show diff rences were not only void but illega'. This setting on diffe enca as far as pub ic stocks were concerned was certainly illeg.1.
His Honour-Is this a public stock? Mr. Ferrers-Yes, the rule appli-s to those things which are public scnrities in any way whatsoever.
His Honour-Proluce a caso in which so gmbling in differences has been he'd illegal.
Mr. Ferrers-If you say that sovereigns are not public securi y it is uo use my proceding with this subject.
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[February 20, 1905. Chinese banks t› buy and sell,drafts similar to the one in question
Mr. Ferrara-Then I suppose tht this sort of gambling is very prevalent in the Colony. No doubt the practice is the custom of Chinese banks; yet that does not affect our bank, because ou rales expressly forbade it. The evidence shows that this sort of busin ss may be done by unauthorized people; there is no
trace of this sor of business in our books.
His Honour-Was there an effort to com- promise? That is arother questirn.
Mr. Ferr rs-There was a very great
difference between the evidence of the witnesses on this point. Tai Tsz Ho was n interested
8 We faced him with witness witness. who, though he cam- from the same village as the defendants, was an independent witn sa.
His Honour-The: e was not an effort to compromise ?;
по one to com. Mr. Ferrers We seut promise. When Chinese got talking. there is no saying what thy may or may not have suggested,
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Mr Ferrers closed his argument and the case w.s adjourned.
Saturday 11th February.
JURISDICTION.
In Suv MARY
BEFORE HIS HONOUR MR. T. SERCOMBE
SMITH (PUISNE JUDGE),
DEUTSCH ASIATIS CHE BANK V. THE WAI SHING HING BANK. The hea ing of the bank draft and exchange suit was continued.
Mr. Fer:ers having concluded hi defence on Friday, Mr. Pollock address the Court. He is Honour-The currency here is dollars.reviowed the evidence point y point and the Pounds are not public security; m rely chattels, argued that if the def ndants held out Li Yak Mr. Ferrers-Well then it would affect the Cine, their absconding agent, to have anthority to 8-11 demand drafts the plaintiffs were also dollars. And should you hold that this was a
entitled to as ame he had authority to sell valid transaction you will then have to consider
forward drifts an the question who must be held liable ?
1.is loonur-My presen' view, which of course may change, is that I shall not be called upon to determine whether or not this was If I were satisfied gambling in differ..ces.
that it we gambling in differences there would le an ed to plaintiff's case, but I am not satis- fied that it was.
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Mr. Ferrers-The case is one in which an agent deceives both parties. Are we respon- or does the loss lie sila for his frand where it has fa len? They chose to trust this agent knowing nothing about the principal and yet when the agent breaks own, they come on the principal!
His Hanour. They did know of the existence of the bank and therefore did know of the principal.
Mr. Feers -Li Yak Chee, the agent, said was the that there was a bank, and that he manager; and the ot ars trusted to that.
Mr. Polck There is evidence that they actually went around and c·ll d at the defendaut bank
His Honur - That is so and before any contract was made. It does not matt r who they were it was certain that there was a bank ad that the hauk was the principal. They could find out the constituents afterwards.
Mr. Ferrers-We say that the plaintiffs were entirely misled. Ti Tz Ho misconceived Li Yuk Che's auth-rity-that is the kernel of the case. Buying draft for cash and dealing in differ nces are very different things, and the 1 without plaintiff should not have inferre enquiry that Li Yuk Chee had authority to deal in differenc 8. This is a case of gambling on the street.
His Honour-That is the kernel of t'e case.
Mr. Pollock-If this. man was by the defendant bank giv n authority to buy and sell on demand they ca not stop short and ay
we had something in the rules about it." These alleged rules wer private, so a third party ould not be expected to be bound by them.
His Honour-If, A told B that C was partner in the bank and B told you, that is evidence. If I hold out a min as a partner
Mr. Gedge my 10 Mr. Gedge, that he has authority to transact business in connection with the partnership.
a
infer
Mr. Pollock-l'here is no differe o in effect between the rules of the power of an avent and the rules of the power of a partner acting as agent for his co partners.
His Honour If you hold a man out as a partner it follows that he has power to d every thing in connection with the partnership, bat if you hold ou' a m∙n as an agent you only say he is an agen' for a give purpos
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Mr. Pollock-Well, how am I to say he has only authority to that extent; how am I to draw a very fine line? I can only sy that he did that very business not only with the paintiff bank but with other banks; h · had, in fact, authority. It seem that it s borne out by Mr. Gasgar's evidence that he had rec-ived authority from the defendant bank to deal in forward drafts. Li Ung Ting in his evidence said that there was an accountant in the defend- ant b nk, a man who kept the books, and yet they did not bring this man forward as a witness. The very groundwork of their case is that the account books wer properly kept, and that all the account books were produced. I submit that all the account books were not there. Li Ung Ting said that he could not being account books later than the 1st February 19 4 and tried to bridge over the period between that date and the 1st November, when the bank was closed, by saying that du ing that interval there really was no business transacted. There must have been wages, salıries, advances and. a'l sorts of petty disbursements. And these books ·. ought to have been produced; so you have not His, Honour - There is a certain amount of had all the books. In s qustion put to Li evidence as to the custom of Chiuese banks. | Ung Ting you find that certain transactions of Three winesses said that it was the custom of a character to appear in the books did not
Other points raised by Mr. Ferrers we e tha the charac er "Wai" on the draft was not the correct charac er, and theref re the draft-hould be looked upon with suspicion There was to chop on the draft; and the characters of Li Yak Chee's signature on the draft w re 1 of the same as those characters a pea:ing in the Wai Shing Hing Bank's wages book. Thes points went to show that the transaction should have been rewarded a private one of Li Yuk Chee who had not the authority he said he had.
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