Jane 7, 1909.]
then be left in possession of scarcely one and half square miles of territory.
We shall have to haul down the Portuguese flag from the Guia Fort after a period of 272 years, and from the Mongha Fort and Fort Dona Maria after a period of fifty-eight years and with the surrender of the San Miguel cemetery we shall have to deliver to the tender mercy of the Chinese the bones of our forefathers buried there.
It may be that there will not be so complete a surrender. The territories around Macao against which the Portuguese Minister has claimed Tis. 2.300, 00 may comprise only the islands of D. Joao, Taipa, Colovane and Green Island. But, even should it turn out that this is the case, I wonder whether the two contend- ing parties have carefully weighed all the chances of complications.
Macao shorn of its dependencies will be exposed to constant local maritime friction, China in occupation of the four little islands mentioned above will have established her right over at least part of the waters of both the outer and inner harbours of Macao, and the result of the dual control over a few square miles of territorial waters cannot be other than that which is apprehended From such a position to the complete elimination of the Portuguese from South China there will be but one step.
Happily this is all. as ret. a mere speculation, as the real facts have still to be revealed. Appearances do not point to a fpeedy and satisfactory solution being in store for us.
Already the Chinese Commissioner, H. E. Kao Erh-chien, has telegraphed to the Peking Government requesting the Waiwupu to send another able official to take over the work. He has been in the South the last few weeks, and probably he has found the task too onerous, owing to the outery of the Cantonese. Why then, not submit the Macao Boundary question to the decision of a third independent party? This is, indeed the best course to be pursued by both sides, in consequence of their irreconcilable views.
May 18, 1909.
I am, etc..
A PORTUGUESE.
CHINA AND THE FAKUMEN RAILWAY QUESTION.
¿
The Japan Mail, commenting on the present position of the question says:-We are reluctant to attribute motives, yet we are fully persuaded that in the matter of the Fakumen Railway China has conspicuously adopted the device formulated by one of her shrewdest statesmen forty-five years ago, the device of setting her opponents by the ears. She does not care row pins about the Fakumen Railway for its own sake.
Is it at all likely that she should care, when the question is one of equipping with means of communication a remote and sparsely populated outskirt of her empire. while tradal centres in important regions are left unprovided. But she does care very much about breaking up the Anglo-Japanese alliance, one of whose main objects she considers derogatory to her own dignity, and which may at any moment prove a highly inconvenient combination. She judged shrewdly that if English financiers could be directly interested in the Fakumen Railway, they would resent Japan's inevitable objection to its construction, and events have proved the accuracy of her forecast. Does anybody seriously imagine that British subjects or British officials would have displayed the faintest concern about the Fakumen Railway had not its building offered a desirable channel for the investment of English capital; or that China would have been in such a hurry to build it had she not perceived in it un effective weapon for striking at the Alliance, on the one hand, and for diminishing; on the other, the value of the property which she will soon acquire a conventional right to purchase from Japan China has handled her cards adroitly. But surely intelligent observers, who fully detect in general questions her traditional policy of diplomatic delay, and recognise her habitual manoeuvre of playing off one nation against an- other, will not insist on thinking that she has abandoned that policy and eschewed that habit in her dealings with Japan alone?
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
THE LAI HING CASE.
THE JUDGMENT OF THE PRIVY COUNCIL.
announcing the judgment of the Judicial Com. On the 8th inst we published a telegram mittee of the Privy Council in the matter of the Lai Hing firm (bankrupts) - Wakeman, Official Receiver and Trustee v. Wong Li Shi, deceased. administratrix of the estate of Wong Ka Chucń,
We have now the Times report of the case which reads as follows:-
This was an appeal by the Official Receiver as the trustee in bankruptcy of the Lai Hing, firm from a judgment of the full Court of the
Chief Justice and Mr. Justice Wise) of July 4. Supreme Court of Hongkong (consisting of the
1906, which dismissed an appeal of the Official Receiver from a verdict and judgment in the trial of an issue before the Chief Justice and jury.
Mr. Younger. K.C, Mr. E. H. Sharp, K.C. (of the Hongkong Bar), and Mr. A. Romer Macklin were counsel for the appellant; Mr. F.
for the respondent. Gore-Browne, K.C., and Mr. A. F. Wootten
On November 24, 1905, the Supreme Court of Hongkong directed an issue to be tried to determine whether Wong Ka Chuen was at the date of the presentation of the petition in bankruptcy against the Lai Hing firm a partner in the firm. The Chief Justice directed that the parties to the issue should file their respective statements of facts within three weeks | in a sealed envelope to be opened by the Court. The issue was tried in April. 1906, before the Chief Justice and a jury, the hearing lasting six days. Wong Ka Chuen's case was that he ceased to be a partner in 1898. In the result the jury ound that Wong Ka Chuen was not a partner in the firm at the date of the presentation of the bankruptcy petition, and judgment was entered for him accordingly. An application was made to the full Court by the Official Receiver for an order setting aside the verdict and for a new trial, on the ground that the Chief Justice had misdirected the jury on 13 heads, and also that the verdict was against the weight of and was contrary to the evidence, and of the discovery of new evidence. The full Court dismissed the application with costs, and from that decision the Official Receiver now appealed to the Judical Committee. He asked
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for a new trial of the issue.
In the course of the argument for the appellant counsel mentioned that at the close of the hearing of the issue the Chief Justice said that several native witnesses had to his tuind been guilty of the most flagrant conspiracy to partuer Wong Ka Chuen and had each one defraud the alleged been guilty of the most corrupt perjury, and he committed each of them to prison for three months without hard labour. They were bailed out in a few days, and appealed to the Judicial Committee against the Chief Justice's order. The Judicial Committee decided in their favour. reversed the order of the Chief Justice, and directed them to be released. That, however, had nothing to do with the present appeal.
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At the close of the arguments on both sides, The Lord Chancellor, in delivering judg ment, said their Lordships were not able to adrise his
Majesty that there ought to be a new trial in this case. The appeal had not been argued on the footing that the verdict was against the weight of evidence, nor was it capable of being argued in that way apart from the snmming-up. The summing-up of the learned Judge had been the subject of the criticisms which were made the foundation of this appeal. Their Lordships did not think that that summning-up was wholly satisfactory, and several criticisms were made on it which, in their opinion, were well founded. There was certainly a great deal to be said in support of a new trial on the ground of the great weight of certain parts of the evidence adduced on behalf of the plaintiff, but their Lordship could not forget that this case was tried by a jury who knew Hongkong and Chinese customs, and how much rolinue was to be placed ou Chinese evidence. Although the matters in issue might have been presented in another way in the summing-up, yet the jury, who heard the evidence during a period of five or six days, also heard the arguments of counsel. It was not a circumstance to be by
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any means forgotten that since the trial the defendant in the issued (Wong Ka Chuen), who was the principal if not the only really relevant witness called on behalf of his own case, had
retry this case. died, so that it would be extremely difficult to In these circumstances their Lordships would humbly advise his Majesty to dismiss this appeal, but they would not allow any costs ou either side, thinking that there was justification for raising the points that had been raised.
r. Sharp. I take it that the Official Recei- ver will be able to take his costs out of the estate?
The Lord Chancellor.-Is that for us or the Hongkong Court?
Mr. Sharp. I think for the moment it is for your Lordships. At any rate, an intimation on the point would be a guide.
The Lord Chancellor. - It is not our function to advise the Court.
After some further conversation the Lord Chancellor said that the question being asked whether the Official Receiver's costs ought to be allowed out of the estate, this much might be said, that in their Lordships' opinion the Official Receiver was perfectly justified in appealing to this Board. If it was the Court in Hongkong which had to decide, it would no doubt pay attention to that expression of opinion.
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The Lord of Appeal present when this judg- ment was delivered were :-- The Lord Chancellor Lord Ashbourne, Lord James of Hereford, and Lord Gorell.
LLOYDS FIRE INSURANCE IN JAPAN.
CONFLICT WITH THE GOVERNMENT.
The Jiji, in noting that the foreign insur. ance companies which have representative agents and transact business in Japan each deposit a security of Y100,000, states that Lloyds is undertaking fire insurance business and has succeeded in obtaining a contract from the Kanegafuchi Spinning Company to cover a risk of Y400,000 on certain buildings. The Govern- ment thereupon issued an order to Lloyds re- questing them to deposit the usual security of Y100,000. Lloyds, however, refused to obey order, contending that the concern WELS not a joint stock
company, but credit corporation. Lloyds did not maintain an agent in Japan, but merely appointed canvassers, and insurance policies were signed in England, so that the Governmont was unable to enforce its demand for security.
the
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On hearing of this, says the Jiji, all the other foreign insurance companies have informed the Japanese Government that if Lloyds are allowed to take risks in Japan without depositing security, the other companies will pursue the same course. Lloyds is taking extensive fire risks in Ger- many, and the Japanese Government is making investigations as to the manner in which this business is managed in Germany. The eventual result of this question is being awaited with interest.-Japan Chronicle,
FOREIGN INSURANCE OFFICES IN JAPAN.
A Tokyo despatch states that some 36 foreign and that the same have hitherto enjoyed special insurance companies are represented in Japan
and preferential treatment by the Government, as compared with the administration controlling Japanese companies. Now that the Govern- ment proposes to revise the rules regulating native concerns, instituting, however, more disclosures, the opportunity will also taken to rigorous strictures in consequence of recent establish rules controlling foreign offices, with a view to bringing them more in line with Japanese companies.
A Shanghai Municipal Notification. dated May 26, announces that "the Siccawei Road is re-opened to traffic with effect from this date." The N.-C. Daily News understands that this step has been taken in consequence of the opening of negotiations with the Spanish authorities, of which there is every reason to anticipate a favourable conclusion.
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