September 28, 1908.]
Did you search any other part of the ship ?- Only the second officer's room,
You have not called the informer -No. Why not ?-I dɔn't wish to.
Isn't it rather singular that the informer should not have been ready to ascertain where the pistols went P-Probably he has.
It appears to you that defendant disposed of 20 pistols in one or two days and there is no evidence he did so -I have not charged him with disposing of the pistols,
What do you call making a thorough search? --Searching every crevice and corner, taking out drawers and looking behind them.
You searched every place where something might be hidden ?—Yes.
Did you search every place where things would not be hidden ?-lf "I am searching for anything I usually make a pretty olean search. Did you look on the top of the bookcase yourself-I think I did.
Mr. Davidson submitted that the defendant was in possession of the arms from perfectly innocent motives, and at best it was only a technical offence which should be dealt with by a nominal penalty.
His Worship said he could come to no other conclusion than that defendant was guilty of a substantial offenes. He would impose a fine of $100 and the arms and ammunition would be forfeited.
THE TYPHOON.
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
SUPREME COURT.
Friday, 18th September.
In Original JurisdictiON.
BEFORE SIR FRANCIS PIGGOTT (CHIEF JUSTICE).
THE HONGKONG AND SHANGHAI BANK SUED Judgment WAS delivered in the aotion brought by Lan Man Cho, otherwise Lau Kok Shun, to recover from the Hongkong and which, plaintiff alleges, are his property, and Shanghai Banking Corporation 34 title deeds
M. W. Slade, instructed by Mr. J. Boott are wrongfully detained by the defendant. Mr.
Harston (of Messrs. appeared for the plaintiff, while the Hou. Mr. Fwens and Harston)
H. E. Pollock, K.C., instructed by Mr. H. J. represented the defendants. Gedge (of Messrs. Johnson, Stokes & Master
08.50.
judgment said two preliminary objections were His Lordship in the course of a lengthy taken to the jurisdiction of the Court. The first was that the action related to the title to land abroad, and therefore the Court must decline to entertain it. The general principle was a familiar one, but it did not apply to this The right to the possession of the documents of title to the land was, it was true, in issue, but the question involved was the right of the defendants to retain them, and the right claimed was that they had a charge upon them or upon the land represeḍted by them. The When the typhoon signals were hoisted on
case was covered by at least a dozen Buthorities Saturday the 19th inst. the coincidence was re-
in which the English Courts had dealt with marked that Friday was the anniversary of the mortgages of lands abroad by way of fore- great typhoon of 1906 and the following day saw
closure decree. The charge, if it existed, was the colony preparing against the possibility of
created in this colony, the parties were in the another dread visitation. On Sunday morning colony, the decree could be enforced, and there the red drum surmounted by a cone pointed fore all the elements were present which the downwards repeated the message of the previous English Courts held to be sufficient to entitle night but when later in the day these were
them to exercise jurisdiction. The second point replaced by the black drum and cone, which
was that the defendant bank had iustituted indicated that the typhoon was within, three proceedings before the Namhoi Magistracy at hundred miles south east of the colony, peopletion in which it was said that the plaintiff Canton in respect of the question raised in the
had appeared as defendant, thereby submitting to the jurisdiction of that magistrate. He might remark that the facts in 80 far as the plaintiff in this action was concerned, did not warrant this point being raised upon them, but even if they did the case was abso-
feared for the worst. All the small craft in the harbour had sought refuge very early and yesterday the steamers in the harbour had full steam up. Some anxiety was felt lest the Canton and Macao steamers should encounter the storm on the way to Hongkong, but for. tunately nothing happened to interfere with the or 'inary running steamers, Ashore house-lutely covered by Hyman'v. Hilen 24 Ch. D. holders took the usual precautions. At night the signals were green, red, green, but though rain fell intermittently there was little wind and the typhoon did not come within 200 miles of the Colony,
ANOTHER SUICIDE.
Another Chinese woman residing at Centre Street, West Point, ended her life by taking opium on Thursday. Deceased's busband, who is a herbalist, on returning home for his mid day meal on the day mentioned, found his wife lying on the bed. When he spoke to her she told him not to bother her, as she wanted to sleep. The husband then sat down to his meal, and on entering his wife's room a quarter of an hear afterwards, found her unconscious. He sent to the Tung Wah Hospital for a doctor, and when the medical man arrived he ordered the removal of the woman to hospital, after arrival there she died, and her body was Shortly removed to the mortuary,
The Netherlands India Estimates for 1909 have been laid before the Dutch Parliament, The figures show a deficit of seven millions guilders cansed by extraordinary outlay. Ha
it not been for this outlay, the balance would have been the other way to the amount of two millions of guilders. It is not intended to increase taxation except in some of the outlying islands. The additional outlay includes the extension of education, especially among Chinese children, and railway construction in Java and Sumatra. There will be further experimenting with mechanical tin-mining in Banks. The opiam, gambling and spirit farms on the East Coast of Sumatra will be extended. The Banks tin output is set at 190,000 piculs next year,
121
did not amount to negligense, He would not attempt to weigh the evidence, nor would he go through it all, because he was of opinion that the evidence which had been given on behalf of the" Bank broke down and did not establish the propositions on which alone their right to retain the deeds could rest. He would examine therefore, the defendants' evidenos alone. Thè case in ita simplest terms was this: that the Wang Fung or Lan Man Cho himself was in great need of the large sum necessary to pay the royalty due to the Chinese Government for the concession. This was tasis 1,600,000 payable respectively. The great question was how to in two instalments of taels 1,000,000 and 800,000
Mr. Ma Fat Ting, the partner of many firms, raise it in Hongkong, and then the ingenious suggested raising the necessary money by mean of manipulation in bills; be in fact put bis chop and signboard, in other words his credit, at the disposal of his partners. After s reference to the agreement signed in 1895 his Lordship said the bills of exchange saed on wer bought with the deeds as collateral security, but were handed to the bank as security for the payment of bills then already over due. to the means which he adopted to raise the No Ma Fat Ting was most cynically candid as money required for the royalty: he sold a fow bills and then on maturity he sold a few more and so on, and so on, until all the bills com- prised in the particulars, totalling with additions subsequently made to nearly one and a half millions, but unfortunately his story did not hold water. A considerable amount of the modby received on those bills could not have gone to the Wang Fang, but must have gone to meet the series of bills which fell due some months previously, if his story was accurate. The Wang Fang could not have received anything approaching that sum nt the time it was required unless (allowing for premium and interest) practically the same number of bills had been negotiated in 1807 But Mr. Ma Fat Ting said he did not do this, but began in a smaller way, a fow at first, in the particulars was reached. Bat, continued then more, then more fill. till af last the long list his Bordship, that would not do either, because as there was no question of renewing bills, but only replacing bills at maturity by new bills which supplied the funds for meeting the old one, as well as some more cash for the Wang Fung. The case on its financial side broke dewd completely it destroyed the whole theory confederates, and it carried with it all the of the case set up by Ma Fat Ting and his
elaborate fiction on which the case was reared, that the pressing and immediate necessity for raising 1,600,000 in Hongkong to pay the royally was the cause of the negotiation of these bills to the bank. And it must destroy as a pecessary consequence all the evidence as to authority to pledge the deeds in the way in which the pledging was done. He must there- fore reject it. But it was said that putting all this on one side if it could be proved that the monet raised on the last series of bills, those in question in the action, did in fact go into the coffers of the Wang Fung, then his view of the law being wrong, the Bank could recover. In order to prove this some books were tendered in evidence as the books of the Wang Fung and the question arose whether be could, reosïve them under the Evidence Ordinance. He could receive such books if he was satisfled that they, were what they purported to be, and also that” they ers regularly kept in the ordinary way of business. The books were produced by So Pat Ting who said he was the accountant of the Wang Fang. bat they bɔre no name of the
Ting Wang Fang inside or outside. So Pať“
his
said incidentally that he and assistant had ocpied them from rough books. Beyond So Pat Ting's statement that they were Wang Fang books there wa In order to acount for the absence of the na nothing to make the court believe that they were of the firm on the books it was pointed out that the lottery business, being illegal in Hongkong, it would naturally not be put on them, but contents were harmless enongb, and he nothing to do with lotteries. But the necessary that he should at least look cursory glance at the contents-and it, contents in order to see if the requires the Ordinance vare satisfied they were no more the Wang Fang: books
defendant in a suit in one country might 531, where it was held that a party who was a
legitimately put himself in the position of plaintiff in another country in respect of the same cause of action. After an elucidation of quoted authorities, his Lordship proceeded to give his opinion on the facts. The plaintiffs case, he would not say, was plain and intelli- gible. Plaintiff gave his evidence in a straight forward way, though on one or two occasions his explanations did not seem entirely satisfac. tory. It certainly did seem extraordinary, continued his Lordship, that a man engaget in so vast an undertaking as this lottery business, and having so large a sum as taels 1,400,990 available, should trust not only this sum and title deeds of property worth apparently half a million more, but all his interest in the re- maining period of the then existing concession in the hands of men some of whom at least were
further embark with them in a new enterprise not too well known to him, and that he should
in connection with the further concession which was to last six years, and then go away t Shanghai or Peking and practically not come near the place again. He did not lose sight of the partners for the express purpose of raising the fact that these deeds were in fact left with money for the neo-ssities of the Wang Fang Company, and the Bank's case was that they were in fact so used. It looked almost as if assuming that that would be sufficient in law to a case of negligeno, might be made out, bat justify the retention of deeds handed over without authority he could not go so far The plaintiff did as to say there was negligence in fact. take precautions. He expected that gave instructions to his partners and
they out. The fact that Lau Wai Chun and Ma would carry them Fat Ting and Wai Long Shan acted contrary to those instructions did not prove that the plaintiff was negligent. Misplaced confidence
A
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